{"id":18289,"date":"2024-12-13T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/?p=18289"},"modified":"2024-12-13T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T15:14:09","slug":"alumni-appreciation-gavin-stewart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/blog\/2024\/12\/13\/alumni-appreciation-gavin-stewart\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Appreciation: Gavin Stewart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Communication department Alumni Gavin Stewart is the Digital Media Specialist for Gaston County Government in North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart graduated in 2018; he was drawn to the communication department because he was interested in production, enjoyed interviewing and was fascinated by sharing stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

While at Western, Stewart was involved with the Western Carolina Journalist, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity and the Pride of the Mountains marching band.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart’s most valued aspect of the communication department was the access to professors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t stress enough how important that was for me. Kata [Spasovska], my advisor, knew exactly what I needed to succeed and graduate, and she helped me through it all,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cEven Dr. Eldredge, who I didn’t take any of my major classes with, knew I was also interested in public relations and took the time to speak with me and work with me on my projects. Six years later, I still talk to Kata and Dr. Eldredge often, and they’ve helped me as I applied for different jobs by editing my application exercises.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to relationships with professors, Stewart thought organizations like the Society of Professional Journalists and PRSSA were important for students getting involved, building relationships and honing specific skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents should take advantage of all the resources available to them so they can leverage their experience later on,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cYour professors are there to help you so make sure you talk to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He also encouraged students to step outside of their skillset comfort zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a checkout system for cameras when I was there, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone by practicing your photography,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cIf you plan to go on a day trip with your friends, document it and just have fun. I can promise no matter if you end up in news, public relations, broadcasting, or some other communicator role, you will be expected to know how to take a good photo that helps tell the story. I never considered myself a photographer when I was in college, and now I use a variety of different cameras each day. Find out which computers on campus have the Adobe suite and familiarize yourself with those programs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s current position as a Digital Media Specialist involves content creation. His primary focus is on social media videos, photos, and graphics. He also works with broadcasting on the Cable Access channel the county manages. Stewart helps manage the Commissioner and city council meetings, which are live-streamed monthly, as well as producing press releases and news content.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communication department Alumni Gavin Stewart is the Digital Media Specialist for Gaston County Government in North Carolina. Stewart graduated in 2018; he was drawn to the communication department because he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3360,"featured_media":18290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18291,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18289\/revisions\/18291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}