2023 Elon Sports Vision Scholars

Pauline Alibaksh grew up with an older brother and an older sister and was raised in an international school and home. As a youngster, Pauline explored playing several sports before falling in love with volleyball in the sixth grade and continued playing throughout high school. Yet her earliest memories of sports were watching and enjoying soccer with her French family. Her brother plays professional soccer, and Pauline has long had an appreciation and love for watching and following the game. Pauline is a strong communicator and initially started at Elon with an interest in film and cinema. However, she has changed course and is majoring in strategic communications and minoring in sports management with aspirations of working in live sports broadcasting.

Ben Bronstein grew up surrounded by sports, watching football and soccer and playing baseball and rowing. An avid fan, Ben has always wanted to work behind the scenes in the sports industry. His love for sports analytics and marketing will help him succeed in the Elon Sports Vision program and build connections for future job opportunities.

From a young age, sports have been a large part of who Kierstin Burke is. Growing up, the Hanover, Massachusetts native and her family were always consuming sports, whether it was watching Sunday football together or attending games of their favorite baseball team. Kierstin has also been involved in many sports through school and outside clubs. During her freshman year in high school, she participated in a broadcast journalism class, sparking an interest in communications. As she got older her interest in broadcasting, both on screen and behind the screen, increased. She looks forward to all the opportunities Elon Sports Vision will provide to further explore sports broadcasting.

Philip Doherty is from Athens, Georgia, where he attended Athens Academy and helped lead the school’s broadcast team. As part of the Elon Sports Vision program, he has assisted in the live broadcasting of several Elon University athletic teams. He has directed, oversaw graphics, worked with cameras, and handled replay responsibilities for baseball, basketball, softball, football, and more. He is double majoring in cinema and television arts, and theatrical design and technology. Doherty hopes to work professionally in sports broadcasting.

A Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native, Colin Foil grew up at Alex Box Stadium watching LSU Tigers baseball games. He also played four years of high school varsity baseball at The Dunham School. He plans to study journalism.

To everyone around him, the only logical choice for Scott Katz to major in was sport management. Having grown up in a sports-oriented family, he has been following and playing any and all sports for as long as he can remember. When the pandemic hit, Scott used the qualities that made him captain of his high school frisbee team to organize a safe way to play frisbee with his team and maintain a sense of community. Scott is eager to participate in the Elon Sports Vision program to immerse himself in Elon Athletics.

During high school, Ryan Pleasants became involved in his school’s TV program and fell in love with directing and the behind-the-scenes production of athletic events. Ryan also worked with his town’s cable access channel filming and directing sports games, talk shows and concerts. He is excited to be an Elon Sports Vision Scholar combining his love of sports and TV production.

Sports have always been a big part of Abigail Selikoff’s life. Her family members are admittedly huge New York Yankees fans, and she has gone to countless games and often watches the Bronx Bombers on TV. A competitive swimmer since the age of 7, Abigail competed on her high school varsity swim team for four years and was named team captain during her junior and senior years. She have been a lifeguard for the past three years and recently served as the head swim coach for her town’s club team.

Perrin Tamasco grew up in an athletic family with three energetic younger brothers. While watching their football and lacrosse games, she fell in love sports. She was a three-sport athlete at New Canaan High School, where she served as a captain on her varsity girls basketball team. As part of her high school broadcasting program, NCTV, she served in many roles, including sideline reporter, play-by-play announcer, color analyst, sports reporter on the weekly broadcasts, as well as filling in as producer. In third grade, she started watching the NFL and fell in love with the Kansas City Chiefs. She aspires to one day work as a sideline reporter, interviewing the players she grown to admire.

Originally from Barrington Illinois, Annie Thyfault attended Barrington High School. She didn’t immediately have an interest in sports, other than watching golf with her father. But that changed in high school when she started filming sports. Looking for an extracurricular activity, she volunteered to livestream and film highlights at her high school football and soccer games. Annie quickly fell in love with being behind the camera and the process of livestreaming – and she continued working in sports broadcasting throughout high school. Annie looks forward to building her skillset with Elon Sports Vision and learning how to film a variety of sports.