The e-Communication program at Olathe Northwest has produced many successful alumni over the past 12 years.
But only 2014 grad Johnny Carver can say he has published a book.
Carver, a graduate from the Sports Information Director and Convergence Journalism wing of e-Comm, is glad he spent two years of his high school career in e-Comm.
“I definitely enjoyed my time in the program,” Carver said. “Most of my memories at ONW come from the e-Comm program.”
Carver transferred to ONW from Shawnee Mission Northwest before his junior year, and had no intention of joining SID or Convergence Journalism.
“My counselor brought up the SID program when I was trying to make my schedule,” Carver said. “At the time, my basketball career was my primary focus, but I jumped on the opportunity.”
During his first year in the program, Carver wrote very few stories and mainly focused on learning everything about sports that he could.
“Most of the things I learned junior year were from a senior named Scott Chasen,” Carver said. “I’ve always felt like I was the smartest sports mind of any of my friends, and he was the first person to really challenge me.”
Then during the summer before his senior year, Carver discovered that he had a nerve disorder that would end his basketball career.
“After I lost my basketball playing career, I wanted to find another outlet to be successful.”
Success in e-Comm is what he found.
Because of his inability to play basketball, he focused on writing a book. His book determined the greatest NBA player of all time.
“I came up with the idea to write Ranketology: A New Way of Determining Basketball’s Greatest Player,” Carver said. “The book is based on a statistical algorithm that I created to determine the greatest player in the history of the NBA.”
Carver spent the summer of 2013 and his senior year working on it, and it was published during the fall of 2014.
The book became available on Amazon in January and has opened many doors for Carver since then.
“I’ve been contacted by a number of NBA teams, and I’ve been on lots of local news networks and sports radio shows in the United States and Canada.”
Carver already had the skills and knowledge to write the book, but credits the e-Comm program with supporting him through the process.
“I couldn’t have written the book without the support of the e-Comm program,” Carver said.
As his book grows in popularity, he is reminded of the school and program that helped him get there.
“It sounds like the school is promoting [my book] even after I graduated. It shows me how much they care about my success.”
Carver, a current Arkansas student studying business, fully recommends the SID/Convergence program, knowing that it helped him get into the college he wanted to and helping him decide what he wants to do with his life.
“I think it’s the easiest way for anyone in high school to show his or her creativity and find a future career path,” Carver said. “That’s a huge advantage when selecting colleges and classes once you get there.”
In the end, Carver hopes to inspire other kids in the program to set goals and have the drive to reach them.
“I just hope that other kids that come through the program dream as big as I have,” Carver said. “I had to imagine where I wanted to be in order to carve my path for the future. My goals and expectations were always higher than others around me, and so far it’s paid off.”
If you wish to purchase his book, here is the link to his book on Amazon.
