Sara Wilson: Where are you from? What high school did you go to? What was the type and name of publication? 
William Galloway: I’m from Birmingham and went to Mountain Brook High School (graduated in 2017). I was the sports director for the morning newscast at MBHS for all of my high school years. We called it Spartan 2 News. I also was the PA (public address) voice of the boys and girls basketball teams and the baseball team.
 

SW:Describe the publication a little bit: how big was the staff? How did y'all fund yourselves? What was your role and involvement? 
WG: Spartan 2 News was a daily 4-5 minute newscast shown to the entire school in-between first and second periods. During my years, out broadcast team varied from 10-15 people. The school owned all of our equipment that included a studio, a fully stocked production room, three industrial size camera and multiple macbook laptops. As sports director, I wrote the sports every day to keep students and staff updated with everything that was going on with the school’s athletic department. As the PA guy, I would manage gameday operations in-game running halftime activities, promotions during timeouts and essentially heading all media operations on gameday on top of announcing the games over the PA system. I was hired for this job.

SW: Why did you decide to join the publication in high school? What are some of your most interesting memories from your time on it?
WG: I decided to join Spartan 2 News because it was the only broadcasting type thing we had at Mountain Brook. I’ve always wanted to be a broadcaster and this as an opportunity to do just that in school as a class. For me it was a no brainer. Since it was just a morning newscast, every day was different and that’s what stands out most to me. We shared plenty of laughs as a group/class and go to know each other well. Even though we are now in college, we are all still friends and meet for lunch when we’re home over breaks.
 

SW: What were the strengths of the publication? The weaknesses? 
WG: We were really good at quickly getting the news done and recorded so we were ready to go once class ended. We only had one class period so we got to be pretty efficient. I wish we were able to cover more than just school news so I guess that is a weakness.

SW: What is your current involvement in campus media or in the JCM department? (Slash tell me about the genesis of your podcast and any successes and challenges you have found with it)

WG: Currently I’m a sports intern at WVUA 23 TV as well as a contributing writer to the WVUA FM, an online publication covering Alabama sports. I worked in Athletic Communications freshman year (last year) for the men’s basketball team and men’s golf team. I began a podcast to talk sports at the beginning of this semester. I thought it would be a good idea to expand my portfolio as well as give me a platform to share my thoughts on things going on in the world of sports. I am 10 episodes in and post an episode every week. I’ll have guests on to discuss different topics relative to what is going on in the world of sports. The podcast has challenged me in finding new ways to cultivate listener interaction and really market myself. It’s something I’ve enjoyed and will see myself doing throughout my career. 

SW: Why did you decided to continue your involvement in scholastic journalism into college? How has it benefited you? What are your career goals? 
WG: I’ve always wanted to be a sportscaster and so getting into scholastic journalism is just another step to head in the right direction for me. I need to get a journalism degree and Alabama is the best place to do it. The Capstone provides an abundance of opportunities for students interested in sports media so it has been a great experience so far. Ultimately, I want to be on camera as a reporter or anchor for a major sporting network or working for a team. 

SW: Do you see any barriers to access for scholastic journalism in Alabama from your own experience or looking at the experience of others? 
WG: Sometimes folks working in media as a student don’t get the same amount of respect as the professional media but that is because he/she doesn’t act professional. If you carry yourself in a professional manner, it’s hard to be a college media student and feel any barriers from outsiders.

SW: Why do you think scholastic journalism is important? This can be anything from simple career prep to wider concepts like civic engagement or understanding collective need. 
WG: I think it’s critically important. As students, we need to learn the basics even if we already know them. We need to know media law and media ethics. It’s important we establish a strong and wide base knowledge of journalism so we can be successful later.