What’s challenging/interesting/rewarding about my current job?

The News industry is HARD. No joke here, it is thrilling when breaking news happens and rewarding to be able to tell local stories. 

How do I use various communication proficiencies in my work?

I owe my success all to the communications department at Quincy University. I use everything I learned every day. In a newsroom, things move fast. So, communication is obviously key, even if it seems silly to say or ask a question…. DO IT! You never know if someone had heard it differently or was told something else. 

What surprised me about my career?

There really wasn’t too much I was surprised by; I knew what I was getting myself into. I have been adjusting to breaking news happening often, in a city like Fort Wayne there are good and bad parts of town, so when things like a shooting or a standoff happen, we just must go and find out information from there. Most of the time when we hear about breaking news, we know slim to nothing about the situation or scene we are going to. Over the police scanner we will hear different police codes called out and they will give an address and you just go. 

Here’s my number one piece of advice for Communication undergrads:

Seriously, what’s run is done! Listen to Nora and Barb they really know what they are talking about. They want to see us succeed so just do the work. No, you may not be getting the credit hours or enough credit in general for all the countless hours you are spending shooting video, writing, conducting your interviews, editing. It really helps you for the real world if this is something you want to do for a living. I was out of the game for over a year after graduation, and I felt that I wouldn’t be able to remember everything again. But doing it enough and repetition everyday really helps. Your mentors have designed your major to be just like the real world. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! 

What else should QU COM students know?

I wish I would have asked more on the demographics of where a good station or market would have been. I shoot big, and this has been a dream of mine since I was 12. SO trying to find a good stepping stone for myself I think was the hardest part. And not to mention, HELLO I graduated in the middle of a pandemic, where the last eight weeks of college I had a lot lined up and prepared stories to do for my reel that ended up not happening. 

Class year: 2020