Graduating Senior Peyton Gravell Grateful For Hands-On Experiences At UT
Graduating senior Peyton Gravell loves being on-air, but the School of Journalism and Media major was not always comfortable being in front of the camera.
The first time she was on-air for The Volunteer Channel (TVC), she was eager but a bit stiff.
“I could tell she was a natural but she was all in her head,” said Clinton Elmore, the station’s video production specialist and advisor.
He took her aside afterwards and worked with her on having a more conversational tone on-air. Gravell was excited for the constructive feedback and has since ran with it as she works towards her career goal of being a sports broadcaster.
“In many ways she was the epitome of what I think of when we get a new recruit into TVC,” Elmore said. “The entire time she’s been with us she has been open to do anything and always learning and improving her craft.”
Gravell knew she wanted to attend an SEC school. She felt the sports culture the conference is known for would allow ample opportunities to pursue her sports journalism career dreams.
As for which school, it just took one visit to Rocky Top to decide on University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the School of Journalism and Media program.
“It sounds so cheesy but people say you get this feeling when you are at a place that you know you want to end up,” Gravell said. “I had that feeling at UT that day. My first semester was very, very difficult due to the pandemic, so for me to be on the other end of that now and how far I’ve come, it makes me feel proud. It was a special journey and I was lucky to be here and experience all that I did.”
Learning by doing
Gravell credits TVC for shaping her collegiate experience. She is especially grateful for the numerous experiential learning opportunities she took advantage of as a student.
She joined TVC her sophomore year after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed her move from New Hampshire to Knoxville. Gravell worked her way up from running the teleprompter to being a producer and on-air personality for two TVC shows.
Gravell said she really enjoyed how welcoming TVC was, adding previous experience isn’t necessary and the team is willing to train newcomers. She believes Elmore’s passion and dedication for the industry really resonates with students and that’s why the station feels extra special to her and others. She also liked how the work being done at the television station complemented her in-classroom instruction to help her grow as journalist.
Through working at TVC, Gravell not only developed her skills but also learned about other opportunities. This includes internships with WVLT Channel 8 and WATE Channel 6 in Knoxville where she covered the Tennessee Vols in various sports disciplines as well as local high school athletics. As an intern, Gravell edited highlights, wrote scripts, did stand-ups, and produced stories for the station’s website.
“All of the skills I learned and was able to work on helped me to grow as an aspiring journalist. I was able to apply these skills in the classroom as well as share my experiences with my fellow classmates,” Gravell said.
One opportunity she is particularly proud of is the chance to work with ESPN’s Countdown to College Gameday. The national network wanted to incorporate a student-produced segment highlighting the atmosphere on Rocky Top ahead of the 2023 men’s basketball game between the Tennessee Vols and Texas Longhorns.
Gravell worked alongside Sarah Grace Kennedy and Chris Clark to produce the segment for ESPN which included student interviews and a live broadcast from outside the arena with fans. Gravell was randomly chosen to be on-air of the three students working on that project
“Everything that I’ve done and worked on seemed to have led me up until that point,” Gravell said. “It was so surreal.”
Gravell also got the opportunity to flex her talents in other ways beyond sports broadcasting. She began interning for Omaha Productions this summer, an entertainment company founded by former NFL quarterback and College of Communication and Information alumnus Peyton Manning.
As part of their social media team, she tracks user generated content and compile tweets and articles into a weekly recap document after each broadcast of the Monday Night Football television program with Peyton and Eli, also known as Manningcast.
Building a network
Along with honing her skills, Gravell said she was able to meet some amazing people in the industry through her various hands-on experiences. She said many of them have become friends and role models, such as WVLT Sports Broadcaster Paige Dauer. She feels lucky to have met someone like her not just as a journalist but as a woman killing it in the industry she loves.
“Peyton was so pleasant the first time I met her, full of smile and genuine passion to learn,” Dauer said. “Right away it was evident she was going to be dedicated to learning and growing as a journalist. Those early impressions were only solidified the more I got to work with her.”
Gravell also feels fortunate to have other role models like Reece Van Haaften, sports director at WATE 6, and Natalie Glikes, a manager with Omaha Productions, noting they care a lot about helping her succeed in the industry.
She also got involved in the Society of Professional Journalists chapter at UT. Through that organization, she has been able to not only interact with students with similar aspirations but with professionals as part of networking trips such as the SPJ23 Journalism Convention.
In true Volunteer Spirit fashion, Elmore said Gravell also pays it forward. He said TVC is constantly rotating in new students so upperclassmen like Gravell typically find themselves assisting in training up and mentoring the next group of journalists. Elmore said Gravell never shies away from lending a hand to others, being an ambassador for the station and taking advantage of hands-on experiences.
Gravell said she will miss the friends she made as a student at Tennessee the most. Without them, she said her experience in Knoxville would not be close to the same as it has been. Even though she is graduating, Elmore said she will always have family here at TVC and the School of Journalism and Media.
“I just can’t wait to see all the awesome things she is going to do. We will definitely miss her but I believe she has all the tools to take this as far as she wants to,” Elmore said.