Student Spotlight: Rachel Alig

Update: August 09.  It didn't take Rachel long to land her first TV news job. This month she became a reporter/anchor at WTOK, the ABC affiliate in Meridian, Mississippi.

She can often be seen around campus with a camera or at the rec center where she enjoys running and kickboxing.  She also enjoys reading and her time spent working toward her degree. She likes to join friends in sampling new restaurants. And, she’s a self-proclaimed Good Morning America and CNN junky.

Meet Rachel Alig. Rachel hails from Lakeside Park, Kentucky.

She discovered her love for broadcast journalism at a young age. Rachel vividly remembers watching television with her dad, a defense attorney, after he would spend long hours at the office.  That’s when she realized what television meant to society, and to her.

“I found that it didn’t matter what race, sex, age, or socioeconomic status one was from---people watched TV.  That realization is what has motivated me to pursue a career as a broadcast journalist.  The ability to communicate to so many people has always intrigued me.”

She applied to many universities that could foster her ambition to be a journalist but ultimately chose UC’s Electronic Media Division.

“The Electronic Media Division stood out to me because it offered training on the technical side as well as coaching needed to master the skill of news writing.”

While Rachel knew her focus would be in journalism, she knew it was important to be well versed in all aspects of the television industry, from audio and video to web design.

Rachel wasted no time in becoming a journalist.  She has interned with WCPO-Channel 9, worked at UC Web Communications, and for a Fox Network college website, known as Palestra.net.  In February she was a finalist in MTV's contest to send a college reporter to the Academy Awards ceremony.

Rachel also has the distinction of winning two Ziv Awards, the highest honors bestowed upon E-Media students.  In 2007, she was awarded the WLWT Hearst-Argyle Internship with Channel 5, where she had many chances to receive practical, in the field experience. 

In 2008, she won the Time-Warner internship with CNN in Atlanta where she was assigned to work in production for the Nancy Grace Show.

“This was a whole new world.  I got to work on a local level and now I took the next step and was able to explore the massive communication system used within CNN to constantly update your information and stay aware of any breaking news as well as occasionally working with people at a national news desks.”

Rachel also took part in the Munich Summer Curriculum offered to E-Media students.  She recommends it to all who are able to make the effort.

In a nutshell, Rachel believes it all began right here at UC.  The Electronic Media program equipped her with a vast skill set and knowledge base to allow her to succeed.  She also admits, it has become a family.

“The staff and professors of Electronic Media have provided me with all of the guidance, instruction, and encouragement that I could ever ask for.  People who were initially just classmates developed into friends and companions.”

Upon graduation, Rachel plans to begin her career as a reporter, starting in a small market and working her way up.  Her dream job would be to work overseas and to be a traveling reporter, all around the world.  There is only one stipulation to her that she will hold for the rest of her life.

“It is very important to me to establish myself as an ethical journalist.  Not only is it right, but it will afford me the opportunity to gain better jobs in better markets.”

Written by Shawn Hayes, February 09