20 Questions with South Florida's Jenna Mitcheson

	The five people Jenna want to have dinner with: Jesus, Eleanor Roosevelt, Johnny Unitas, Will Ferrell and Princess Diana. Photo courtesy of Jenna Mitcheson
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Name: Jenna Mitcheson
Birth Date: June 4, 1985
Hometown: St. Petersburg, FL
School: University of South Florida
Year: Senior
Major: Mass Communications

1. In 10 years, I'll likely be: Working as a sports journalist, either broadcasting or writing. My dream job is return to the sidelines as a reporter for ESPN! Guess I just can't get enough of being down on the field with all the excitement! Maybe I'll be married by the too, who knows?

2. Why I love USF: We're such a young school -- we just celebrated our 50th year, and our football program has only been around since 1997...a lot of people don't know that. We've sort of adopted this motto here in Bulls Country, that "We don't follow tradition; we create our own." I am so proud to have been a part of our football team's first ever bowl game, our first ever bowl win and our women's basketball team's first appearance in the NCAAs. Also, having my family come to watch me cheer each week and learning from some of the top professionals in the field has made my college experience really special. There are just so many things I love about USF and the opportunities I've had here.

3. Movies I can't live without: Forrest Gump, Old School, Peter Pan, Legally Blonde, Remember the Titans, and Anchorman!

4. Music I can't live without: Anything alternative, anything country. I like hip-hop too, just anything you can dance to. In fact, my teammates are always trying to get me to do my Michael Jackson dances. I loved him growing up!

5. TV shows I can't live without: College Gameday, if I'm actually home to see it and not cheering a game! And watching the NFL on Sundays too!

6. One misconception about cheerleaders: That we're catty and shallow. I have some amazing teammates that I've really come to respect and admire. They've all got a lot of depth to them, a lot of character. It's been a real honor cheering with them.

7. My favorite sport is: Besides cheerleading ... football and gymnastics.

8. My favorite teams are: The Bulls, of course! Having lived in the Tampa Bay area my entire life, I'm also a Bucs fan. Actually this summer I interned at our local ABC affiliate and got to cover Bucs Training Camp. Meeting Mike Alstott and interviewing John Gruden was amazing! I also root for the Colts too ... we all love Tony Dungy around here.

9. I like to spend my weekends: Home's about an hour away, so I try to go back whenever I don't have games and spend time with my family and my cats. It's the best feeling in the world when I wake up and my cat's all balled up at the foot of my bed. He always goes and hides under the bed when he knows I'm going back to school ... he doesn't like that very much at all!

10. Strange and unusual fact about me: When I was nine and in gymnastics, I had a nasty elbow injury and ended up shattering my entire elbow. They put pins in there to set the joint and my bones kind of regrew around it I guess. Apparently, there's still a hole at the joint though, so I can REALLY hyperextend my arm. It's pretty gross. But hey, they never thought I'd be able to straighten it again so it's a good thing right? I can also pop my hips out of socket.

11. My friends would be surprised to know that I: Traced my entire family tree on my Dad's side all the way back to the 1700s in England! I'm also pretty terrified of fish. Well not terrified, but something about them just makes my skin crawl.

12. If I Had More Time I Would: Spend more time with my friends and family, sleep, and scrapbook. I love scrapbooking!

13. Favorite Foods: My mom's the best cook in the world so anything she cooks! She makes great salads, she's got a couple great soups and she's got some really good chicken she can make. I don't wanna give away any of her recipes though!

14. Five People I'd Like To Have Dinner With (Living or Dead): Jesus, Eleanor Roosevelt (She was so ahead of her time), Johnny Unitas (When we played U of L this year in Louisville, the first thing I did when we got to their stadium was find his statue and take a picture with it! Greatest QB of all time!) Will Ferrell (Funniest man alive!), and Princess Diana.

15. Favorite Activity: Going to the beach on a sunny day! We've got it sooo good here in Florida! Or going out dancing with friends.

16. Next Risk I Want To Take: Travel somewhere outside of the U.S., not sure where yet. And then getting a job!

17. Every Woman Should Have: An education! Every woman needs to be able to stand on her own two feet. That's something my parents stressed to both my sister and I at an early age. My sister, who is four years older than me, just got her Masters and is about to start working on her Ph.D. I'm really, really proud of her.

18. Places I Want To Visit And Why: England definitely, because I want to visit family there. Also Hawaii, Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Alaska!

19. Typical Day: Monday and Wednesday, I'm up at 6 AM for morning workouts with the team. Then it's back to the apartment for a shower, some breakfast, then work for my online class and my independent study. I'll have lunch, and then class from 2-4, then it's off ABC where I'm interning with the sports department. I'll put in a few hours there, come home, eat dinner, do homework and go to bed. Tuesday and Thursdays I sleep in a little, workout on my own, and spend a lot of the morning checking to see what's going on in the area because I'm the producer of WUSF's Florida Focus and I've got to put some story ideas together. I spent most of the afternoon and early evening doing that, then practice from 6:30-9:30. Fridays I'm interning most of the day. And Saturdays and Sundays I get a little bit of a break from all that, although during football season, we'd spend all Saturday doing game stuff, and Sundays we'd have practice. Right now it's pretty much just basketball and doing appearances throughout the community though.

20. Perfect Date: Wherever Christian Bale wants to take me! Haha, no, but seriously ... something out of the ordinary. Take me skydiving, on a boat ride, down for a walk on the beach, horseback riding, the fair, or even the zoo! I just love adventure!