b'After serving two internships with the Idaho Golf Association, it was felt we couldnt let this one get away, so a new position was created for him. Meet the IGAs new Administrator of Media and Communications. Q&A with How did you find your way to the IGA?Shane Ren It was through an advertisement online while I was finishing my degree at the College of Idaho. The posting was for the USGA P.J. Boatwright internship, working in the media Where are you originally from?and communications department. At the time, I was obsessed While I was born in Melbourne, Australia, my shallow Aussiewith golf and looking for ways to use my journalism skill set. It roots serve as little more than a fun fact in an icebreaker. Myseemed like a perfect opportunity. Within a few weeks, I knew American parents moved me and my younger brother to SanI wanted to stick around, so I interned for nine-months the Francisco with the birth of my youngest brother on the horizon,next year and was hired full-time this past October.just a few months before my fourth birthday. Within the year,What are you most looking forward to in your we nested here in Boise and its become the place my roots runrole at the IGA?deepest.As a kid who grew up with heroes in the national media, Where did you go to school?thats who I thought I wanted to be. But during my time at DePaul, I fell in love with community journalism and local When I graduated from Boise High School in 2016, I shippedstorytellingthe kind of stories that matter most to the off to Chicago where my priorities for college were a vibrantpeople you live with. In my new role with the IGA, Im excited student newspaper and exposure to a major media market. Ito help tell stories about people in the communities I grew up found that in spades at DePaul University where I sharpened myaround and help highlight all the wonderful things about golf skills as a writer and editor, reporting mostly on a troubled Bigin Idaho. Few things are more fulfilling than putting a spotlight East basketball program and embattled athletics department. on the people I share fairways with.When Covid-19 rolled around, I felt weary about the prospect of finishing my degree with a year of Zoom meetings and electedWhat else are some facts unique to you? to take some time off, returning to Boise to work at Shadow ValleyIts hard to say what facts about me are truly unique. But Golf Course. I started playing an obscene amount of golf, hittingone time, in a junior event at TimberStone Golf Course, I made the first tee within minutes of punching off the clock every day.three eagles on the front nine and shot 43 (+7). Id love to meet And as one would expect, my game improved rapidly. When itsomeone who can say the same. came time to finally finish my degree, I jumped on what felt likeAlso, in 2010, I was No. 5 on ESPN SportsCenters Top-10 my last opportunity to play college golf, accepting a spot on thePlays for a diving catch I made in left field at the Little League roster at the College of Idaho.World Series Regionals. Not necessarily unique, but the list ofothers is pretty short.What do you like the most about living in Idaho? What would you like to tell the golf I realized while living in Chicago that the flat horizons of thecommunity of Idaho?Mid-West are like Red Bull for anxiety, so one of my favorite thingsI love this game more than any other non-human entity about living in Idaho is being surrounded by mountains. Even inin my life. From the people Ive met, to the places it takes me the flat expanse of the Snake River plain, where most of us live,to and the rollercoaster of emotions I feel on the golf course, the jagged bowl of mountains that surround us is something I willfew things have enriched my life the way golf has. My desire never tire of seeing each day.to work in this industry is fueled by my hope that others can experience this game the way I have. 6 GOLF IDAHO|MAR 2025'