Freelance Journalist |
Aspiring Media Expert
My name is Zain Bando and welcome to my website. Here, you will find everything from articles that I have written to media mentions that I’ve been featured in. I am from Downers Grove, IL and I currently attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and am a senior majoring in journalism with a minor in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. After college, I plan to get my master’s degree in Sports Media at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where I’ll immerse myself in everything sports and sports reporting. I look forward to you following along on my journey to the top.

Freelance Journalist |
Aspiring Media Expert
My name is Zain Bando and welcome to my website. Here, you will find everything from articles that I have written to media mentions that I’ve been featured in. I am from Downers Grove, IL and I currently attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and am a senior majoring in journalism with a minor in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. After college, I plan to get my master’s degree in Sports Media at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where I’ll immerse myself in everything sports and sports reporting. I look forward to you following along on my journey to the top.

Sports & Journalism Are Passions That Speak From My Work
Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.
– Henry Grunwald
About Me
Zain Bando is a journalism student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Throughout his time at Illinois, he has emersed himself into the world of sports journalism, writing for a number of outlets and gaining extensive knowledge as a scorebox operator.
Networking
In my time at Illinois, your friends end up becoming your colleagues and that was the case here
Anthony Pasquale and I congregated at center court after another win for the women’s team. Little did we both know that it would be one of the last games we’d get to call during the school year, as sports were shut down due to COVID-19.
Press
By happenstance, the News-Gazette reached out and requested that they would do a story about my experiences working in the journalism field with a disability
During the day-long shadow, reporter Anthony Zilis and his photographers captured me doing my main job, which is navigating the scorebox. My primary role with this position is to ensure that the scoreboard and extra details (timeouts, game clock, etc.) are accurate for those who may be following along at home. I enjoy doing it because I know how important the position is and why it is such an intricate part of the broadcast.