JOR 221 Multimedia
Derek Mancini
By Judy Geralde
“I feel like my father’s career got cut short, so I want to finish it.”
Derek Mancini has always been driven to succeed since he was a child. The loss of his father, Steven B. Mancini, gives Mancini the push to go forward in a similar path as his father was a news photographer . As a current journalism major at the University of Rhode Island, Mancini aims to make his late father, family, and friends proud by directly pursuing what he is truly passionate about.
Growing up in North Providence, Rhode Island, his father was a long-time photographer for WPRI 12 located in Providence. He worked for Channel 12 News for 18 years. His father had inspired Mancini with his enthusiasm and deep interest for his career which drew Mancini into the field of journalism. When he was six years old, his father passed away. Due to how young his father was at 41, it is Mancini’s biggest motivation to succeed and carry on his career in a way by being involved in journalism.
Mancini desires the spontaneity and adventurous side of journalism. “It’s so different from other jobs,” he said. “I like that [I am] doing something different every day. You can really get creative whether it’s writing or video editing.”
Being involved in sports goes back to his adolescence when he was on a baseball team. “I was actually cut from [the team] I really wanted to be on,” he recounted. “I remember it bothering me for awhile. But I just told myself to focus on the bigger picture and just work harder.”
His dedication to effort and training paved his way to getting onto his high school’s football team, one of which won the state championship. This drive to improve carries Mancini to higher places which has allowed him to further himself.
While attending college, Mancini is also an intern at the same station his father had his career at. His mother, Caroline Mancini, supports him the most out of everybody else in his life. Mancini consistently speaks with her about how his days have gone and what WPRI 12 has him attend to. She gives him encouraging words and believes in his dreams for his future.
Focusing and further developing his creative and writing skills as an individual, Mancini carries the goal to get himself into producing sports coverage after he graduates from the University of Rhode Island. He gradually wants to work his way into a sports station in Boston or New York as a sports producer. “Sports is within the culture of those cities,” he said. “There’s nothing like it.”
Although Mancini is not seeking to become a photographer, he will be pursuing the field of journalism in honor and respect of his late father.