On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the UTM chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists played host to Jerrita Patterson from WHBQ and FOX13 News as a guest speaker for the university’s communications department.
Patterson was asked to come to UTM to speak to students by the NABJ and Communications Professor Henri Giles on her experiences as a news anchor and reporter.
When asked what her beat was in the newsroom, she answered that she has no primary area that she works for news. Patterson summed it up in two words: Community Service.
“I am involved in the community in every way, answering questions, going to those (people) that sometimes others may not have access to, whether it’s the mayor, the governor, the superintendent of schools. So that’s what I’m doing. I am working for my community,” she said.
She said that the greatest piece of advice she can give to any student that is about to graduate is to “stay the course.”
“You think college is hard? When you get into the work field, you’re going to encounter a lot of obstacles. You got to stay the course. Hard times don’t last always. You got to find a way of just getting through.”
She was met by a number of students from all communications disciplines, from broadcasting to news editorial, as well as colleagues of the communications department and NABJ.
During her speech, Patterson spoke about the importance of making contacts in the students’ fields of choice, gaining experience in their respective disciplines and finding the right internship on which to build a career. She also fielded questions from the crowd, as well as had a brief luncheon with Giles and the NABJ.
