A GUEST POST BY "COREY REED"

I guess I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is Corey Reed and I'm currently a freshman and Mass Communications major at Roane State Community College. I live in Midtown and whether or not that's Harriman or Kingston is beyond me. I know the debate has raged on for a while as to where Midtown belongs but my address says Harriman so I guess we'll go with Harriman. However, I was zoned for and attended Roane County High School in Kingston and I graduated there in 2011. So your guess about where I'm from is just as good as mine unless you officially know for sure.

Aside from talking about where I'm from, let's talk about Roane State. 

I have a lot of family members who have been involved with Roane State or are graduates. My mom, Shelley Reed, is an alumna of the graduating class of 1982. She also worked for Roane State from 1983 to 1990 and came back to work again from 2000 to 2008. My uncle, Shannon Robinson, as well as his son and my first cousin, Seth Robinson, are both graduates of Roane State as well. Seth also played baseball for the Raiders during his time at Roane State. Even though my dad is not a Roane State graduate, he has taken courses at one of the campuses. As earlier stated, I'm a freshman at Roane State, and I'm currently an employee in student enrollment and recruitment, where I hold the position of a telecounselor. I'm also a current member of Raider Corps. 

Now let's talk about my major at Roane State and why I chose it. 

As you already know from me telling you, I'm a Mass Communications major. I had pretty much intended to attend Roane State when I got out of high school. I decided that I wanted to choose this as my major around the beginning of my senior year. It turned out that Roane State was going to offer this major for the first time when I came in as a freshman in Fall 2011. I'm very thrilled that they offer this major and I'm also thrilled with the program, the TV station, and all the instructors that are involved with it.

I'm currently in the Television/Studio Production class at the Channel 15 Studio. The class is about just what the name suggests. As students, we're learning how to produce and edit studio and television productions. We've produced our own TV show called Scenic Backroads: The People and Places of Tennessee. As students, we produce and run the episodes by deciding our own topics, going out into the field to shoot the footage, doing the reporting, piecing and editing the episodes, and writing the script for the episodes ourselves. Some of the show's topics have included a mule farm, disc golf, antique shops, and a bakery, as well as many other things. Having class and working in the studio is a lot of fun. All of the students are friendly and enjoy what they're doing. We always have a good time and enjoy the company.

I have produced segments for two episodes and anchored a third episode. My first segment featured the disc golf course at Roane County Park. I love to play disc golf and I wanted to share some information about the wonderful course here in Roane County as well as instruct anyone new to the game on how to play. My second segment featured the noon whistle in downtown Harriman. This segment was interesting because I had no idea about the whistle. I enjoyed producing and reporting this one mainly because I learned a lot of things from it that I didn't know. I have also anchored the third episode of Scenic Backroads.

I've met a lot of great people over the duration of this course and program as well. We've taken field trips to WVLT and WBIR in Knoxville. I really enjoyed these tours because they really encouraged me to continue to pursue what I want to do. On these trips, we've met local news anchors and reporters including Lauren Davis, Alan Williams, David Aldrich, Beth Haynes, and John Becker. We're also planning a field trip to CNN in Atlanta.
 

I chose Mass Communications because I want to go into the broadcasting field as an anchorman. I'm gaining great experience through the classes at Roane State and by working at Channel 15. I intend to graduate from Roane State with an Associates Degree in Mass Communications. I then plan to go to either the University of Tennessee in Knoxville or ETSU to receive my bachelor's degree in the same field. I haven't decided if I want to pursue a master's degree, but who knows. It's not quite time for me to decide that yet.

If you're thinking about entering the field of mass communications, I encourage you to check out Roane State's major and program. It's off to a great start and growing with more and more classes, activities, and experiences as we speak. It's a great and rewarding field that I recommend to anyone.

“For Channel 15, I'm Corey Reed.” 

Scenic Backroads and all of Channel 15’s local productions are available at www.tv15.org, www.facebook.com/roanestate15, and www.youtube.com/roanestate15.