Graduating Senior Sarah Grace Kennedy Hopes To Reflect The Volunteer Spirit In Her Work
Learning about the Volunteer spirit convinced graduating senior Sarah Grace Kennedy to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
“Tennessee stood out to me from most of the schools I got into because I liked the Volunteer spirit,” Kennedy said. “Helping the community is really important to me and I like that we are the Volunteers. That was something special to me.”
Kennedy has been volunteering from a very young age. She and her family raised more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society through its Relay for Life campaign. She also recalls working with Seeds of Hope, a nonprofit organization that runs a local food bank in her hometown of Tampa Bay, Florida, to raise money to support families struggling to put food on their plate.
Throughout her time at Rocky Top, Kennedy has married her love for giving back with the skills she learned in the School of Journalism and Media program. An aspiring multimedia journalist, she hopes to reflect the Volunteer spirit in her work.
Embodying the Volunteer spirit
She has used her media expertise to help bolster the philanthropic efforts of her sorority chapter, Delta Zeta, which focus on speech and hearing.
“I actually have hearing loss so this was a cause I could directly relate to,” Kennedy said. “I felt like I actually could have a voice for it and we’ve raised the most money we’ve ever had for the Delta Zeta chapter of the university, while I was there, and it has since gone up.”
Funds raised were used to support the Tennessee School for the Deaf and the UT Audiology and Speech Pathology program. On campus, she has also gotten involved with Best Buddies, and as a peer guide at the UT Center for Financial Wellness.
In addition, she was able to support nonprofit organizations through the VOLs Remote Internship program. The program pairs College of Communication and Information (CCI) students with nonprofit organizations to fill social media and digital communication intern roles.
Kennedy completed her internship with Sports Philanthropy Network, a nonprofit group that supports organizations using sports as a vehicle for social good and change. Through the internship, Kennedy worked on newsletters and blogs sharing positive things athletes and sports teams were doing in their communities.
Kennedy said journalism allows her to tell impactful stories and she believes she can use storytelling to make a difference in the communities she serves, just as she does through her volunteering efforts.
She added she always tries to show that Volunteer spirit in her reporting, and through the School of Journalism and Media program she has covered stories of individuals doing good within their communities.
“I want to go out and do stories that are important for the community,” Kennedy said. “Being able to tell impactful stories is what attracted me to the field of journalism.”
Despite starting her college career during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy was determined to get involved and began getting hands-on experience with The Volunteer Channel (TVC) her sophomore year.
She started with running the teleprompter and eventually worked her up to being an anchor and associate producer for one of the TVC’s regular segments, The Morning JEM. She said that role taught her a lot about editing, writing scripts, and leading others.
Through TVC she has been able to flex her multimedia journalist skills by creating news packages featuring figures such as UT alumnus and Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Larry L. Taylor and UT System President Randy Boyd.
Her experiences at the School of Journalism and Media have also led to several off-campus media opportunities. In 2023, she got the opportunity to write, narrate, and co-produce a 60-second segment for ESPN’s Countdown to College GameDay alongside fellow students Peyton Gravell and Chris Clark that highlighted the atmosphere on Rocky Top ahead of the 2023 men’s basketball game between the Tennessee Vols and Texas Longhorns.
“I was really proud of that and it was such a great experience,” Kennedy said. “It really showed me how much I wanted to be a reporter. It really inspired me and ever since then I’ve been go, go, go.”
She also worked as a content writer for Ablaze, CCI’s feminist magazine.
Part of the community
Along the way, Kennedy benefitted from the mentorship of a number of different individuals including lecturers Annie Carr and Brittany Tarwater, whose advice and instruction has helped her grow as a journalist.
“She is so dedicated to excelling in her craft. I’m so proud of her and I know that she will go on to do great things,” Tarwater said. “She’s an incredible journalist but an even better person, and that’s what’s going to make her shine.”
Kennedy is also grateful for the mentorship of others, including TVC advisor Clinton Elmore, CCI alum Curt Maggitt (’14)—whom she met through the VOLs Remote Internship program—and supervisors Becky Sparks and Philippa Satterwhite at the Center for Financial Wellness.
She is also grateful for the friendships she made as a student and will miss her sorority sisters, professors, and working at TVC.
Kennedy plans to stay in Tennessee after she graduates, adding she doesn’t feel quite ready to leave this community. She has made connections with other journalists in the area through her experiential learning opportunities, which she thinks will be helpful as she starts her professional career as a multimedia journalist.
“I always say that the best decision I ever made was coming to the University of Tennessee because it’s taught me so much,” Kennedy said. “I gained a valuable education, incredible friends, made amazing memories and gained important connections. It’s not just a school, it’s a community.”