This article is part of a series of articles celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The articles celebrate the accomplishments and efforts of two of its former sports editors from the AAPI community.
Best known within the section for being an avid fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bobby Pragada covered Stanford Athletics for two-and-a-half years, beginning in his sophomore winter in 2017. Pragada finished his Stanford experience as Sports Editor for Vol. 254 and 255. Since leaving The Daily, Pragada has moved across the country to Philadelphia, where he continues to support new writers by exploring his interests in teaching.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
The Stanford Daily (TSD): Tell us about your experience as a Sports Editor at The Daily.
Bobby Pragada (BP): The best part about The Daily was 100% being able to reforge a family with different students. Being able to set up a space for sports that really laid the foundations for people to continue to meet each other and come together was really gratifying.
TSD: How has the Daily shaped your post-graduation endeavors?
BP: One thing that I realized from working at the paper was how much I really enjoy the art of teaching. It made me realize the joy of helping writers who maybe have never written before. Being able to look back at everything that we did while I was there, and then now everything that’s done by the current writers — getting to see all of that is super rewarding.
TSD: Did you have an interest in sports prior to Stanford?
BP: My dad’s always been a big sports guy. So an interest in sports has been in my family. But it wasn’t until I came to Stanford and started to go to football games, basketball games, baseball games, volleyball games that awakened something in me that made me realize how fundamental student athletics are to the experience of being a student at Stanford.
TSD: How did being a member of the AAPI community shape your Stanford experience and experience at Daily Sports?
BP: During my time at Stanford, I was really involved with two communities: The Daily and various Asian American groups – specifically the Asian American Theater Project, Sanskriti and Raagapella groups. Both groups helped cement my identity, and to see the moments when the two would intersect would be really interesting. To see other AAPI writers come up in my section and also have editors (in and out of sports) like Do Hyoung Park be a role model was really important.
Notable Articles by Pragada:
Contact Inyoung Choi at ichoi ‘at’ stanford.edu.