WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 music 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.000 My name is Chelsea Hunt and I majored in English at Western Oregon University. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 I wanted to major in English because growing up I always loved storytelling. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:13.000 And I also developed a passion for language. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.000 Today, I work at KEZI 9 News. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 Sometimes, when I tell people that, they think I work here in front of the camera. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.000 But I'm actually one of the many people who work behind the scenes. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:28.000 I'm the Digital Content Manager which means that I handle our website and digital platform. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:33.000 I attribute my current job success to my time at Western Oregon. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.000 It helped me build a foundation for my future. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.000 I invested myself and my classes and my teachers invested in me, as well. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:44.000 KEZI, this is Chelsea....my favorite part of my job is being able to work with the 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.000 the people that I do. There's so many people here who have so much experience 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 in this industry and I love learning from them. And we also have a lot of 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.000 new journalists coming into the field, who are fresh from their own college experiences. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:60.000 And I love being able to use my own career experience and my 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.000 education experience to help them grow. As an English major 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.000 at Western Oregon, I developed a really strong understanding of grammar 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:12.000 and also a really deep appreciation for the way that people actually talk 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 which is so important. And I also got real world experience 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000 as a freelancer for the student newspaper which was invaluable. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.000 It taught me so much about what a real environment 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:23.000 would look like coming out of college. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000 What makes Western special is the small class sizes 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.000 let you develop real connections with your fellow classmates and your professors. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Looking back, it's their encouragement that helped 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.000 me build the confidence to pursue my dream. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.000 music