[Journalists] S D student uses Braille to anchor the news

[Elizabeth Sammons]

> KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsCollege
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> student uses Braille to anchor the news
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> College student uses Braille to anchor the news
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>    Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 2:01 PM EST
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>    NORFOLK, Neb. (KTIV) -- To break into the broadcast news
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> business, you have to have determination, good writing skills,
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>    and of course the voice. And for one Siouxland student trying to
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> break into the biz, the ladder is even harder to
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>    climb.
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>    It's your typical midwest college, and your typical student
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> broadcast department.  There's a studio, audio board, and
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>    television prompter.
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>    "I do want to go into broadcasting, " said Nick Pavel, a
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> sophomore at Northeast Community College.
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>    Every year thousands of broadcast students try their hand at
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> breaking into the TV news business, and at Northeast
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>    Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska there's one student who
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> uses his hands literally to master his craft.
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>    Nick uses his hands because he can't see the prompter or any
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> scripts.  Nick has been blind since birth.
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>    "I was an anchor last semester for our TV newscast and I also
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> read the news on the radio last semester as well," said
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>    Pavel.
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>    Nick does it with a Braille note.
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>    "I type them out in my Braille notes so I have to type everything
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> out from beginning to end, so it's kind of a long
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>    process," said Pavel.
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>    While he's been using Braille for years, Nick, like any other
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> broadcast student, had to get use to reading aloud.
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>    "He wasn't used to reading out loud from that, but he's gotten
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> used to it," said his instructor, John Skogstoe.
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>    Training for a broadcast career is challenging even with all of
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> your senses, but Nick minus sight says you can't miss
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>    what you never had.
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>    "Since I've been blind since birth, I'm used to how I read," said
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> Pavel.
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>    Which makes him a real inspiration to his instructor and classmates.
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>    "For someone like Nick with a visual impairment who only has the
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> same challenges that everyone else does, that's a real
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>    testament to his attitude and how hard he works at doing what he
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> wants to do," said Skogstoe.
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>    "He's very smart and has the potential to be a broadcaster like
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> everyone else here," said classmate, Austin Taibemail.
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>    And with such determination, you may never know where Nick could
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> turn up someday.
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>    "Nick Pavel for KTIV News Channel Four," said Nick Pavel.
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>    The competition just got a little more stiff.
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>    Nick is a sophomore from Lesterville, South Dakota.
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>    His instructor says he has heard of other blind radio announcers
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> but has not heard of a blind television newscaster.