There are nearly 3,000 miles between Oakland, Calif. and Fordham’s Rose Hill Campus. For many, attending college that far away from home is simply too hard. But for Zach Badalamenti, FCRH ’25, coming to Fordham was an easy choice.
Badalamenti applied to several California state schools but was ultimately between Fordham and Syracuse University as his final two choices. “I did not get into many other places, and Fordham offered me money. I got back a couple of the applications in the mail, and they said it was weird that I did it in yellow crayon,” Badalamenti jokingly remarked.
In all seriousness, swapping Oakland for New York was a big decision for Badalamenti. He says that many of his friends from home decided to stay local when choosing schools, but he was intrigued by the prospect of going to school in New York City despite the long distance from Oakland.
“It was a big adjustment at first for sure. My sense of direction was so messed up when I got here. Like, I’d be walking through the city, and I just never knew which way the coast was,” Badalamenti said. He’s not all alone in the city though, as Badalementi’s older brother lives in Manhattan.
Now that he’s in New York, Badalamenti is making the most of his time at Fordham. He recently joined WFUV Sports as a trainee, an experience which Badalamenti says has been incredibly exciting. Trainees typically attend weekly training sessions during the fall semester while also getting the opportunity to shadow broadcasts to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes. “Employers in New York know WFUV, so that’s something I’m excited to stick with heading into next semester,” Badalamenti noted. Recently, WFUV Sports members had the opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by Chris Carrino, the radio play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn Nets.
Badalamenti first arrived at Fordham with an undeclared major. After some thought, he decided that journalism was the best fit for him. “I like that with journalism, it’s a way that I can combine being creative with doing research, which are the two things that I like to do,” Badalamenti says. “With journalism, there’s no real guideline to what you have to write about. I really like writing, so it works out.”
Badalamenti reached out to The Fordham Ram’s opinion section last year with an interest in writing articles. He has been a regular contributor to the section ever since, and was recently named assistant opinion editor for the upcoming Volume 106 which will begin in January.
“I never wrote opinion articles in high school, so I’d have to say my opinions out loud. It sucked, because I could never get people to listen. Ever. But with the newspaper, my computer can’t leave.” Badalamenti, although joking, elaborates that it’s been nice to have a space where he can fully research a topic, back it up with facts and create a thoughtful and well-formed opinion.
When the staff application for Volume 106 was first released in November, Badalamenti didn’t hesitate to apply. “I want to pursue a career in journalism,” he said. “I want to start taking it seriously now. I’m doing an internship in the spring so I didn’t want to apply for a head-editor position. The assistant thing was a good way to get more involved without taking on a ridiculous amount of responsibility. Also, I just learned how to read so that helps.”
In case you couldn’t tell from his quotes, Badalamenti likes a good joke here and there. When asked about the difference between himself currently versus freshman year, he shared his reflections. “Perspective. I used to get down on myself because I wanted to do well, but now I’ve realized ‘what’s the point?’, you know?” Despite that bleak outlook, Badalamenti will continue to pursue journalism with a smile on his face.
