Meet Benjamin Jones, '20 Alum

People told me I had a dream job before I attended the Patterson School. I covered college football at the University of Alabama for The Tuscaloosa News from 2015-19 as part of an eight-year career as a sports writer after graduating with a journalism degree from UK in 2011. In those right years I covered five teams that made the College Football Playoff, four national championship games, two Heisman Trophy winners, two national championship teams, and saw at least one football game at every SEC school. It was the kind of job some people would never give up. 

But I knew for some time that I wasn't long for a career in journalism. Newsrooms kept shrinking as layoffs and furloughs cut closer and closer to the bone. Awkward night and weekend hours -- when most games are played -- meant that work often happened when friends and family celebrated holidays, weddings, and birthdays. Beyond that, there was always a nagging feeling that I could do more to serve others than what I could do in a press box. 

My parents were both officers in the Navy and my brother is currently on active duty. We had moved to Louisville, where my dad was from, when he left the Navy to start his second career. No one in our family spoke much about public service, but everyone did it. I'd had some interaction with the Patterson School as an undergrad, and sat in on a class in early 2018 with the encouragement of a journalism professor when I traveled to Lexington to cover a UK-Alabama basketball game. That's when I started thinking seriously about grad school.
Patterson's proximity to my family and friends helped but wasn't the deciding factor. The three-semester timeline and professional focus were important selling points for someone looking to make a successful career change. Living in Alabama meant that I qualified for in-state tuition through the Academic Common Market. Patterson was clearly the right choice. The opportunity to move closer to home was just a bonus. 

Of course, I expect my degree from Patterson will help launch me into a career outside Kentucky. I'm on track to graduate at the end of the semester and am ready to go where I'm needed. I'm applying for jobs in the intelligence community, the Foreign Service, and elsewhere in the public sector. I've also begun taking a look at jobs in the private, keeping in mind that the opportunity to serve can come from anywhere. It's a difficult job market for new graduates, but I've never doubted that leaving that "dream job" and joining the Patterson School was the right decision.