The school paper is often a popular extracurricular activity for students of varying academic interests --- the cognitive science major who snaps photos at a basketball game, the pre-law student who also happens to be a columnist or the foreign affairs major who comes in once a week to do layout and design. It is a rare occasion, however, when a student actually goes from being the editor of the school paper to a Pulitzer Prize winner. For acclaimed author Michael Vitez, editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily in 1979, that was exactly the progression.
Vitez's interest in journalism began in high school, when he served as editor of the Annandale High School newspaper, The A-Blast, in Annandale, Virginia. When making post-secondary education plans, it was the daily aspect of the University's newspaper that appealed to him and eventually won him over.
"I loved the people and loved the paper, so I stuck with it," Vitez said. Once on The Cavalier Daily staff, Vitez began by writing news articles, but later moved on to serve as projects editor before ultimately became editor-in-chief.
During his time on the staff, Vitez was faced with reporting fairly controversial material. One of his most memorable interviews was with the first individual to have a sex-change operation at the University Hospital; another was with the first gay resident advisor to openly announce his sexual orientation.
"Coming from the suburbs, this was the first time I had encountered anything like that," Vitez said.
It is his desire to tell human interest stories that guided Vitez from editing his college newspaper to writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In 1997, conflicting attitudes about end-of-life care in America were surfacing. At the time, newly emerging medical options made lengthening the twilight years possible, and some individuals felt improving quality of life was a higher priority. Being assigned to simply investigate "aging," Vitez took advantage of this broad assignment, producing a five-part series of features that explored a variety of individuals who were reaching the ends of their lives. The subjects of these features included an individual in a hospital's intensive care unit, a social worker in a hospice, a son who cared for his parents in his home, an assisted suicide and a 100-year-old woman who was weighing the benefits of moving into an assisted living facility.
In his attempt to "tell great stories about people at the end of their life," Vitez offered a range of provocative portrayals, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes heart-warming. The spectrum of emotion captured by the series could not have been accomplished without Vitez's ability to gain the trust and acceptance of those he interviewed.
"It is a very tender dance at the beginning to build that relationship, but in the end [it] results in better, richer material," said Vitez. "It's a real investment to let a reporter hang out with you in the ICU -- these people trusted me and let me into their lives, and the greatest satisfaction was that they thought I didn't betray that trust."
The individuals Vitez interviewed were not the only ones to appreciate his candid reporting. While standing in his kitchen on a Tuesday afternoon in April, Vitez received a phone call from his editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, informing him that he had won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for his series. Though initially sworn to secrecy himself, word quickly spread and Vitez was congratulated by everyone -- from his old Dabney hallmates to his kindergarten teacher.
As Vitez reflected on the honor of receiving a Pulitzer Prize, he also quoted the words of an old colleague: "The prize is great, but what you will really remember when you're old is not the prize, but the work itself and the difference it made in people's lives," Vitez said. "The work itself was so satisfying and rewarding."
Nearly a decade after winning the Pulitzer, it is this same fulfillment and pride in his work that has motivated Vitez to accomplish a new endeavor. Nov. 21, 2006, Vitez and photographer Tom Gralish nationally launched their book, titled "Rocky Stories," which has been receiving critical acclaim all winter. The book is a collection of stories chronicling the thousands of people who, each year, travel from all areas of the world to run the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, just as Sylvester Stallone did in the original "Rocky" movie 30 years ago.
After working in Philadelphia for over 20 years, Vitez finally decided to ask, "Who are these people?" Equating the running of the steps to the daily painting of Beta Bridge on Rugby Road, Vitez said he felt that these "Rocky runners" had become a part of the local scene, fading into the background of life and going unnoticed.
Spending several hours a day on the steps for about 220 days, Vitez and Gralish interviewed and photographed a multitude of people who set out to run the steps. The goal was not to interfere with the moment or influence the runners, but simply to await their celebratory stance at the top of the stairs and then approach them.
Though people traveled from all over the world to run the steps, from as far as South Africa, Australia and Japan, there were still coincidental encounters that held special meaning for Vitez. Though not included in the book, Vitez recalled witnessing the very same University alumni admissions officer who interviewed his daughter years before running the steps with her family.
Vitez's favorite story is of "the pilgrim"-- a young French man who was ostracized in his youth for being half-Muslim, half-Catholic. When his parents divorced, the pilgrim, feeling lost and directionless, found a father figure in Rocky Balboa and got his life back on track. Vitez happened to be on the steps the day the young man took his first trip to the site to celebrate his hero.
In all of Vitez's journalistic endeavors, he prides himself most on being a storyteller. When asked what story he hoped someone might tell one day about his own life, Vitez said, "That I followed my heart and did what I loved. I discovered what I loved and built a life doing that."
Though Vitez believes that the market for daily newspapers is shrinking, with many major papers laying off staff, he still sees a need for people who can tell great stories and do solid investigative journalism.
"You just have to start out with an idea and a blank page," said Vitez. "It's an adventure and an exploration, and you have to have faith that it leads to something wonderful that you can pour your heart into"
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