Kaitlin Miller recently found herself as a quarterback on a UCLA football field, her adrenaline pumping, defenders rushing towards her vying for a sack. For a few moments, she was an athlete again.
Then she took the goggles off.
She returned in the physical world, with a video camera in the background and UCLA football coach Jim Mora to her side. She snapped back to the present, where she was an aspiring sports broadcaster doing a package about how athletic programs were starting to use virtual reality technology in their training exercises.
It was a long way from where she started out her UCLA career.
Miller, a fourth-year English student, came to Westwood four years ago as a promising Division I rowing recruit from a small town called Manhasset off the coast of Long Island. She yearned for something different from the wealthy homogenous hamlet that she called home.
βTo be honest, sports has always been a part of my entire life,β she said, βLike for example in high school I was always was defined as the athlete.β
Athletics turned out to be her ticket to Southern California. A three-sport athlete in high school she discovered rowing during her sophomore year when a coach offered her the chance to go to any school if she joined team.
Years of intense conditioning and two grueling summers of six-hour-a-day practices later she became one of the best rowers at her high school and in the country, with her boat sailing to 1st place at Nationals in their division.
Her first offer letter came from UCLA and she fell in love with the campus almost at first sight.
βWhen I came out to visit, I loved the diversity, the big school feel, the school spirit. I just felt like everyone was unique in a different way,β she said. βI just always wanted to live in California at some point in my life so I just thought this would be the perfect opportunity.β
On the West Coast she found blue skies and 75 degree weather, but also a school with a population of tens of thousands of diverse students. It was, in her words βa culture shock.β
Miller started out her career as a Division I rower, growing close to her teammates and other UCLA athletes until she was diagnosed with Compartment Syndrome. The condition left her hands gnarled, shaking and unable to grasp a water bottle, let alone pull an oar.
After several rounds of physical therapy and advice from doctors her dream of being a collegiate athletes ended soon after she came onto campus.
βIt was hard for me because all I knew when I got here were athletes, like my teammates,β she said. βI was like βI go to such a big school, how am I going to adjust?ββ
The way she transitioned was by taking advantage of all the opportunities that a big school had to offer, she joined a sorority and got more involved in student media.
And, armed with a prenatural dedication to UCLA athletics and the unwillingness to take βnoβ for an answer, she found herself in the J.P. Morgan Center knocking on office doors and asking for a position.
βWhen I have a goal I become obsessed with it. Itβs always on my mind,β she said. βItβs probably a little unhealthy,β she added with a laugh.
Her persistence eventually garnered her a gig in the communications department as an events and media intern, where she discovered her love of sports broadcasting. That position led to opportunities at the Pac-12 television network and eventually at Fox Sports on the production team.
βAt first I was like βI wanna be in that game, instead of watching and taking notes about then and that felt weird,ββ she said. βBut once I started getting more comfortable I realized that this was the first time my job didnβt feel like a job.β
After her stint at Fox Sports, she got the idea to host her own sports show and again she decided not to take βnoβ for an answer. Her efforts β as well as the connections she made in UCLA athletics β led to the K & A show where she has interviewed scores of athletes and coaches.
βSince Iβve been an athlete my entire life I can really relate to the athletes, I know what itβs like to be down by 2 points in a basketball game and thereβs 30 seconds left,β she said. βI just think interviewing athletes is second nature to me. Itβs like talking to a friend.β
Often, when going through the many hats sheβs worn as a student during her four years at UCLA, she happens upon a public speaking class she took during her first year in college taught by Professor Dee Bridgewater.
To the lesson that he imparted which said βeveryone has a story.β
βThe more Iβve met, the more people talked to, the more Iβve seen that to be true,β Miller said. βYou never know who youβre sitting next to.β



