Finding His Voice: Luis Rodriguez’s UF CJC Experience

Since beginning his journey at the University of Florida, Luis Rodriguez has spent nearly every day inside the Innovation News Center in the College of Journalism and Communications, turning his passion for sports media into experience. Originally from Panama, Rodriguez moved to the U.S. in 2017 and started his college career at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa before transferring to UF in 2024. Today, he is part of the “Sports Lab,” a student-run sports talk radio show on WRUF-AM, where he expresses his love for sports.

“If it was up to me, I’d probably just have a mattress outside right here in the INC and live here,” Luis Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez knew right away that he belonged at UF. The first time he visited Gainesville, he attended a Gators football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium when the Florida Gators played the Tennessee Volunteers. That experience, along with a friend showing him around campus, made him confident UF was the right place for him.

When he first came to UF as a student, however, Rodriguez experienced an intimidating start. His journey from Panama highlights both the challenges and opportunities international students face, and at first, his biggest challenge was not knowing anyone. During his first semester, he would walk around the INC and watch what people were doing, observing students who had been working together for some time before his arrival. Adapting to a new location and culture can be challenging, but Rodriguez approached the situation with ambition. By the end of the term, he realized the students were all trying to gain as much experience as possible and were willing to help.

“I think that everybody’s just friendly here, and I think that everybody just cares about each other,” Rodriguez said. “You can see a lot of camaraderie here because everybody has an end goal of trying to make it into sports media, TV, news or radio.”

Rodriguez attended an open house hosted by the CJC that allowed him to explore immersive opportunities offered in the college for class credit. One of those is Noticias WUFT, a Spanish-language platform where bilingual students produce news content “to practice their writing, producing and on-air performance skills with social media mini-shows ‘Noticias en 90’ and ‘Deportes en 60.’” For Rodriguez, the chance to gain real-world bilingual experience at UF helped solidify that transferring here was the right decision.

“It helps me because I can build my résumé in a bilingual way,” Rodriguez said. “It helps me have different outlets and different skills that I am building here.”

In Panama, soccer is more popular than football. Rodriguez quickly learned about the passion college football fans have, especially in Gainesville.

“You can actually see Gator Nation, how they really care about Gator football and how they care about the team,” Rodriguez said. “I know they’re not doing well right now, but you can still see overall how this town just revolves around college football.”

Parlaying the experience he has gained at the CJC with his passion for sports, Rodriguez joined the WRUF immersion experience as an on-air sports talk show host in the 2025 fall semester.

Kevin Winter, the WRUF brand manager, oversees and teaches the group of students who are on-air hosts for the Sports Lab, including Rodrigues. “He is ambitious to learn,” Winter said. “He wants to pick your brain all the time. And one of the things that he can do very well is being engaging.”

Winter said Rodriguez came into the experience with a solid understanding of football, so he was not worried about having to teach him too much about the sport. Instead, like most professors in the college, he tries to show Rodriguez how he can become a better communicator, in this case, as a sports radio host.

Receiving constructive criticism and feedback from professionals with experience in the media industry is what makes the CJC unique. Inside the Innovation News Center, students have access to facilities used in professional newsrooms and get the chance to gain real-world experience.

“He speaks so quickly, very similar to me, but he’s got a different dialect,” Winter said. “I try to slow that down so everyone can understand him. … Don’t lose it. That’s who you are. Embrace it. Being bilingual is incredible.”

At a university with a diverse community, Rodriguez found a place in the CJC where he was able to adapt, learn and grow. He said the opportunities at UF have helped him take steps in the right direction toward postgraduate success.

“Don’t be shy,” Rodriguez said. “Try different things so you can find what you’re passionate about. Get involved, try to break the ice. Nobody’s gonna bite you here.”

Category: Student Author
Tagged: Kevin Winter Sports Media WRUF
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