Two eighth graders at Alice Buffet Magnet Middle School interviewed legendary former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne on Wednesday for a class project.
Two journalism students, Arnav Pokhrel and Bryce Johnson were tasked with interviewing someone from the community for a broadcasting class. Pokhrel contacted Osborne for an interview and to his surprise, Osborne accepted to travel to the school for a sit down.
"When Arnav came to me and told me - this was after Trev Alberts, I asked him what his next project was going to be and he said he'd think about it and the next day he came to back to me, and said 'I have an interview with Tom Osborne, is that okay?' I was like, what? Yes, of course that's going to be okay," said Grant Torpin, the school's broadcasting teacher.
Pokhrel drafted the questions weeks ago, which focused on Osborne's TeamMates Mentoring Program. He conducted the nearly 15 minute interview, while Johnson was responsible for filming and audio.
"Just filming him was amazing. Seeing how he reacted to the questions and all that - it was just absolutely amazing," said Johnson.
"I was pretty nervous at first but as I got used to it, it was an amazing experience," said Pokhrel.
Pokhrel also asked Osborne how new Nebraska football coach Scott Frost has contributed to bringing momentum back to Nebraska, momentum Nebraska had when Osborne was coach in the 90s.
"I was very impressed with the questions asked and obviously the boys are very prepared and thought it through," said Osborne. "These two are very bright and I'm sure they'll go very far in life."
Osborne stuck around the school library with the two students after the interview to take pictures, sign Nebraska memorabilia and talk to staff.
"This was a lot more work than I thought and it changed my perspective on how I see the news now," said Pokhrel. "We saw all the things that have to happen and all the things that you guys have to record and it's definitely changed my view."
Osborne signed the paper where the boys had types up their questions. That paper will now be framed and put up on the wall along in the broadcasting classroom along with other top interviewees signatures.
The students' project is due March 8th. Their project will be posted on the class's YouTube account.
