… Padilla began his career as a journalism major at ELAC, where he was editor-in-chief of Campus News, before transferring to USC, where he worked on the Daily Trojan. He spent a short time as a reporter with the San Diego Union, then was an editor … training program to bring diversity to newsrooms. Padilla’s father was ELAC’s championship football coach and Padilla maintains a close relationship with the college. He is on the advisory committee of the ELAC Journalism Department. In his acceptance speech, Padilla said was excited that his ELAC journalism professor Jean Stapleton was in attendance. Stapleton, who is still teaching at ELAC, said she was …