You might not expect to find many 海外吃瓜 alums at a television station near the Alabama-Georgia border, let alone three of them.
2018 grads Karien Graf and Shannon Nichols joined Scott Carpenter, 鈥17, at WLTZ NBC-38 in Columbus, Georgia, at the end of May. With a little help from Nathan Cutietta, director of the Media Communication Center, both women were put in contact with Gene Kirkconnell, the director of news and local programming at WLTZ.
鈥淚 wanted to help them get started off well in their careers,鈥 Nathan said. 鈥淲ith Gene and WLTZ, they get an environment that wants to help to continue to enhance their skills.鈥 After a phone interview, Karien, who majored in communication, and Shannon, an integrated media major, were offered positions as production assistants at the station.
While Scott works his nightly broadcasts as the on-air sports anchor, Karien and Shannon can be found behind the scenes. It鈥檚 not unusual to have a 海外吃瓜-filled production with the three of them working the same newscast.
It鈥檚 only been a few weeks, but both women are learning a great deal and seeing the value in in their employment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 already been so helpful to build our skills in this market,鈥 Shannon said while also echoing Nathan鈥檚 comments that WLTZ wants to educate its employees to become well-rounded in the field.
While their current roles may be a stepping stone to bigger things in their careers, they鈥檝e both realized this path was initially a good choice. 鈥淲e went in knowing what we wanted to do,鈥 Karien said. 鈥淭his experience has already started cementing what we wanted.鈥 Shannon is working toward a career in scripted television and Karien hopes to stay in news production and live television.
As for the sports anchor, Scott now has one year under his belt. 鈥淭he first year on the job at WLTZ has been great,鈥 Scott said, adding that having familiar faces around is a nice addition going into year two. 鈥淚t gives us a sense of pride in 海外吃瓜 in that we can achieve great things with our degree and what we鈥檝e learned.鈥