Toi Thornton was already a few years into his career in broadcast journalism – working as a reporter and anchor at a station in Lafayette, Louisiana – when he decided it was time to pursue a master’s degree. After enrolling in a master’s program at another university, Toi quickly determined that endless re搜索 and lectures weren’t doing enough to expand his knowledge or help him hone his craft. 就在那时，Toi找到了满帆.

“I started looking up other schools that had better curriculums and I found 满帆 and I was like, ‘Oh, 绝对是这样,’”他说. “看看课程, 这正是我想要的, 当然，一旦我开始这样做, (这个项目)让我大吃一惊.”

Thriving in 满帆’s real-world approach to education, Toi was thrilled to find that what he was learning in the 新媒体新闻学硕士 program could not only be applied to his role as an on-air reporter but was preparing him for a constantly changing media landscape.

“It broadened my journalistic skills because…some of the things that we were doing back in journalism in 2016 [when I was in school] were things we weren't doing [in the industry], 但实际上是现在的标准.”

在节目中, Toi questioned the relevance of a class focused on audio stories, 说, “我当时想。, ‘Ah, 我不知道.我的意思是，我们为什么要这么做? 我说，‘我明白. 那是给电台的人的. 我上了电视.’ Well, six years later, I host my own podcast here at WBRC called Undisclosed Trauma. I was editing my second episode the other day and I'm remembering some of the things that we learned in that class.”

Grad Toi Thornton with his fellow anchors during a morning news broadcast for WBRC FOX 6.

With nearly a decade under his belt in broadcast journalism, Toi currently works as a Traffic Anchor and Co-host with WBRC FOX 6 新闻 in Birmingham, 阿拉巴马州, on one of the state’s most popular morning news broadcasts. 在那里, he has found that his greatest fulfillment doesn’t come from just getting to be on television, but from getting to bring joy into the homes of his viewers every morning.

“We are the powerhouse station in this market as well as the state. 能够做到这一点是我的荣幸。. “在那里 are so many viewers and when I see them out in public, they always say, ‘Oh, I watch you!’ Some people tell me they just watch and I put a smile on their face.”

你这样随遇而安, Toi does his best not to get bogged down by negative news stories and tries to always carry his positivity into every broadcast.

“这不仅仅是起床上电视那么简单, 你必须振作起来, 你一定很兴奋, 你得开心才行, you have to be smiling no matter what's going on in your life, you have to be smiling because you have to convey a sense of happiness and brightness for the people who are watching.”

在为福克斯10台报道时, Toi visited the home of an elderly woman whose home was shot at, resulting in a stray bullet destroying her air conditioning unit. 通过他的报道, Toi and his producer were able to rally the community and provide the woman with a brand-new AC. “That elderly woman, who knows what could have happened to her in the dead of summer without an AC. That was a moment where I was like, ‘Okay, this is what I'm supposed to do. 这是值得的. 这就是我想继续做这件事的原因.’”

致力于丰富他所服务的社区, Toi sits on several boards throughout the South including the Ignite Foundation, 这是新奥尔良一家专注于青年的非营利组织, 伯明翰的复辟学院, 和新觉醒恢复服务, 一个针对妇女的戒毒和酗酒项目.

不满足于原地不动, Toi continues to enrich his skills and develop his new media toolkit. 作为当前Ph值.D. 利伯缇大学学生, Toi encourages others to take on a similar approach to education, 说, “我只会告诉人们, 不要害怕拓展你的技能. 不要害怕扩展你的知识. 我去满帆是为了扩展我的知识. If I continue to do that, even if I lose this job today, I won’t be without one for long.”