Tart Talk Inspires Students and Faculty/Staff Alike

 

His final year and a half of college was majorly disrupted for this communications major, but he came out of the COVID crisis even more determined to reach his goals in broadcasting. 

Jalen Tart, Class of 2021, returned to the classroom on Feb. 15 to speak as part of the Communications Program Media Professionals Speaker Series. 

During his time at SC State, Tart was a mainstay of the program's video news program BNN (Bulldog News Now). He encouraged the students to get involved with BNN and to seek out internships at TV and/or radio stations if that is what they want to do after college. 

A native of Columbia and graduate of Westwood High School, Tart today can be seen across the Midlands on WIS-TV where he is a news reporter and multimedia journalist. As an MMJ he wears all the hats: videographer, live shot technician, video editor and on-air reporter. 

"The hardest part of the job is time management," he told students and a mix of faculty and staff. "You have to get your interviews as early as you can. You have to know how to adjust and pivot." 

After his remote (due to the pandemic) SC State graduation ceremony in May 2021, Tart opted to apply to graduate schools to further enhance his broadcast journalism skills. 

At Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. he took full advantage of the many writing, reporting and commentary/analysis opportunities as he could. He completed his graduate journalism studies last spring and by June 2023 he was employed at one of his hometown stations, WIS-TV, an NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television, one of the largest station owners in the country.  

"You have got to be positive." This characteristic came through loud and clear from Jalen Tart. That optimistic attitude helped him get through the COVID shutdown, served him well in graduate school and now as a professional news reporter. 

"I like community stories, to show people what's going on," Tart said of the types of stories he like to cover. He says in deciding what to cover he poses the questions "why should people care?" and "how is this impactful?" 

Students listened intently to this "Tart Talk" and asked many insightful questions during the Q&A part.

Asked where he sees himself in five years, Tart says he aspires to move up to a larger city, Charlotte or Atlanta perhaps. He may even transition back to sports coverage. He credited  Professor Justin Smith for encouraging him to expand his job search to news, not just sports, and Tart says he is glad he did that at this point in his career. 

Above, Andrea Milford-Williams, Communications Program special events and professional relations coordinator, presented Jalen Tart with a gift card. 

All of us are so proud of this young man's success and we know even bigger things are to come! 

                             (Photography credits: Rolando Davis and Patrick Harwood)