Matt Boerner and Matt Chupek: ‘Tempe is better’ in the long run

After living in Downtown Phoenix as first-year students, Matt Boerner, a third-year sports journalism student, and Matt Chupek, a marketing student, each opted to move to Tempe for their future years. Matt Boerner went during his junior year, and Matt Chupek left during his sophomore year.

As a Cronkite student that covers ASU athletics, I’ve received the opportunity to cover men’s basketball and football over the last two years. Those are the steps you want to take, but it also becomes more difficult, as each team’s practice facility and stadiums are in Tempe and require multiple hours of work.

Matt Boerner ran into this issue as soon as last year, when he considered applying as a play-by-play broadcaster for ASU’s men’s hockey team. He got the job this season and spoke about what travel would’ve been like from Phoenix out to Tempe on multiple occasions.

After living in Downtown Phoenix for one year, Matt Chupek has spent the last three semesters in Tempe. During that time, he was able to join a fraternity, participate in large-scale intramural athletics and maintain the relationships that he built in his first year. He now studies marketing, and even for any particular major, believes that Tempe’s additional facilities give students a better opportunity for in-class scheduling.

Matt Boerner accounted for the same difference before his ultimate move to Tempe, and according to him and Matt Chupek, the facilities have more benefits there despite having the cheaper price.

Next year, I will have at least one semester that requires my attendance in a professional program and some other in-person classes. I expressed these concerns to Matt Boerner, but he believes it to be easier to make this transport as opposed to doing it the opposite way for work.