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By McKenzie Hamby, Sincerely, Southern staff
Caroline Eaker graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism. Eaker focused mainly on print journalism but soon found her passion in broadcast.
She said that she has always loved talking to people, and once she started taking classes, she fell in love with being a reporter.
“The program has changed a lot since I left," Eaker said. "I had to take a lot of print classes, so I didn’t know much about broadcasting at the time."
One of her favorite memories of the Communication Arts Department is "MMJ for a Day," a one-day event dedicated to providing journalism students with hands-on TV news experience. Professional news reporters from surrounding areas travel to the department and help students create a broadcast news program from start to finish. "MMJ for a Day" was Eaker's first real-life work experience, and it made her realize that broadcast was her calling.
Following graduation, Eaker moved to Mississippi to work as a reporter for WXXV 25. Moving so far away from Georgia wasn't an easy decision for Eaker, but she knew she had to start somewhere.
“You have to go where the job is,” Eaker said. “It is a big enough market that there is stuff going on. We have a lot of news bytes, and it’s a good place to learn and start out.”
Eaker hopes to move to a bigger market someday.