Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Planning Ahead: The Alyssa McTaggart Story



By Mark Langley, ENGL 336.001


Who says that jobs are disappearing for graduates when students like Alyssa McTaggart, a sophomore at Frostburg State University, are already living their dreams? Alyssa, hoping for a future in journalism and airwaves, spends much of her time in both by covering local high school games. She is already well versed in writing news stories and broadcasting, but she's no stranger to hard work.
Alyssa began her career in journalism covering Frankfurt High School football games for the Keyser Newspaper and working the booth for WCBC, a local radio station. "When I wasn't working Friday night for the newspaper, I was out Saturday, or other Friday nights with that radio station, kind of job shadowing" she said as she described her busy schedule, "Keyser sends people out, so I'm getting paid to watch my favorite sport."

Though she may have her dream job now, it didn't all come from her own hard work. Alyssa can attest to the importance of having a few connections. Her father, a black belt at Kick Masters Karate right here in Frostburg, landed Alyssa her first radio internship doing commercials for the martial arts studio. "Through that, he met Joe Kaperelli and they got to talking, and he told Joe what I'm going to school for. He said if I wanted an internship to let him know." The rest, they say, is history.
Though she is already equipped with a healthy resume, Alyssa made it clear that her goals are still far off. When asked about her future plans, she shared her ideas and how they are meant to turn out. "Hopefully, if my plan goes right, I'll be here for 2 years and then graduate with a bachelors in mass comm and associates in journalism." Eventually, Alyssa plans to enjoy a long career in Bristol as an analyst on every sports fan's favorite channel, ESPN- a goal that spans from a love of both sports and
journalism. "I've always been into tech stuff, radio, how stuff works, and I've always been into sports", she remarked. Alyssa is off to a great start in her field, and is a paragon of excellence for any and all aspiring journalism and mass comm students.

For more ESPN go to 
http://espn.go.com/
For more info on Kick Masters Karate go to http://www.kickmasterskarate.com/index2.php

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