It’s Super Bowl week in Minnesota, and Meredith Gorman is right in the thick of it. The 2016 Northeastern graduate is a team reporter for the New England Patriots and contributing to the “Not Done Network,” the team’s 24-hour video stream, providing a range of coverage and access for fans leading up to the 2018 Super Bowl on Sunday night, when the Patriots face the Philadelphia Eagles.

“I like having to think on my feet, because everything is live,” said Gorman, AMD’16. “I’m surrounded by a ton of media members, and everybody shares the same passion and goal—to provide great content all week. It’s exciting being here for the Super Bowl. It’s a dream come true.”

Gorman has certainly kept busy since arriving in Minnesota on Monday, from interviewing Patriots and Eagles players to filing lifestyle pieces ranging from ice fishing in the dead of winter to riding go-carts at the Mall of America. On Wednesday, she caught up with Eagles players Chris Long and LeGarrette Blount, who won a Super Bowl as Patriots last season and are now back to the big game with their new team.

Between Friday and Sunday, Gorman will take over Northeastern’s Instagram account to share her experiences with the university community and beyond.

The Super Bowl experience caps Gorman’s first season as a team reporter; she also covered the Patriots last season as a multimedia reporter for the Boston Herald.

Her work focuses exclusively on video coverage; throughout the season, she’s provided game recaps, updates from practice, and interviews with special teams captain Matthew Slater, running back Dion Lewis, and defensive lineman Trey Flowers, among others, for the team’s weekly “One-On-One” video series. Her Twitter feed is also chock full of updates, photos, and videos throughout the week and on game day.

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Gorman, who also hosts “Golf Destination” on NESN, earned her journalism degree from Northeastern. Her career in sports began in fall 2013, when she earned a job as a media relations assistant with the Boston Red Sox during the World Series. Networking within the Boston news scene helped her land a sports broadcasting internship the following year at WHDH-TV for two semesters while taking classes.

Her career in sports journalism took off from there. She served as a production assistant for CBS Sports in the fall of 2014 during college football season, paying her own way every weekend to travel to work the Southeastern Conference Game of the Week. That experience led to a co-op with CBS Sports in New York City beginning in January 2015, and after five months she stayed on as a productions intern and was later hired as a features production assistant.

Gorman cut her teeth as an on-camera reporter for Northeastern’s athletics department in fall 2015, doing sideline reporting for women’s hockey and soccer. She said those on-camera reps were critical in helping her gain experience and build confidence. “One thing I’ve learned is that repetition is everything,” she said. “The more times you’re in front of the camera, the more comfortable you can get.”

Gorman credits professor of the practice Mike Beaudet, a TV news veteran, with providing advice and feedback on getting into television journalism. She also underscored associate teaching professor Carlene Hempel’s guidance and teaching, particularly in cultivating her interest in sports journalism. “She always helped her students figure out their passions,” Gorman said of Hempel, “She met with me countless times outside of class. Her guidance meant a lot to me while I was at school.”

Hempel recalled that Gorman had an effervescent personality, devoured the curriculum, and sought any opportunity to learn and to gain professional experience. “She was a student with a great spirit, and she had an ease with which she talked to people. I knew it would propel her forward.”

This is the second consecutive Super Bowl that Gorman has covered, and the first as a Patriots team reporter. She described returning to the big game as “surreal.” “The energy is unlike anything you’ve felt before,” she said. “The place is so loud, the fans are crazy, and there’s so much on the line. The players have worked their entire lives for this opportunity.

“Covering a Super Bowl was something that I never thought I would be privileged enough to do this early on in my career, let alone in back-to-back seasons. It’s something special.”