Tad Martinson, a local to Kankakee, Illinois, always knew he wanted to go to Olivet Nazarene University so that he could surround himself with people who shared similar values to him. Martinson came to Olivet in the Fall of 2023, majoring in Multimedia Communication with a concentration in Journalism. To help him develop his skills alongside the classes, Martinson became a student employee for the Media Services Department on campus.
Prior to him coming to Olivet, he ran cameras at his church and fell in love with video production. It was then that he realized video production could help open doors to sports media for him. This was the realization that pushed him to get a job in Media Services to further develop his skills in a Christian environment. According to whatcanidowiththismajor.com, a good strategy to get into media/broadcasting is to participate in campus media opportunities, which is what Martinson is doing by joining Media Services.
With a passion for sports and storytelling, Martinson has a dream of becoming a sports broadcaster someday. The combination of his communication classes teaching him about storytelling and the experience he gets on the job are paving the way to a successful career. Within media services, Martinson has focused his role on the video side of production. He runs various sorts of cameras and also directs video production for many sports and events.
“Media Services has been huge for building a career and a resume reel for myself because you can learn a lot in class…but putting it to practice, and learning from others has been huge,” Martinson said.
The combination of COMM classes, where he learns from professors and others who know a lot about the fields, and Media Services, where Martinson gets to put video production and leadership skills to practice, has helped him in many ways. So much so that he reached out to a minor league baseball team in Green Bay, called the Green Bay Rockers, where he will be interning and doing video production in a sports media environment. Media services and COMM classes pushed him to have confidence in his abilities and his people/leadership skills.
Chase DeMott, Assistant Director of Video Production for Media Services, says, “A thing that sets Tad apart is his personality and people skills…when you have that, and you learn how to use those people skills in this context (Video Production), it really does take you to a [leadership role].”
The COMM classes, especially ones related to journalism, teach a lot about storytelling and much of the time through writing, but Martinson thinks about stories through a camera lens as well. Journalism is a form of real-life storytelling which is directly connected to video production which helps to tell the stories of people as well. Martinson notices these connections between his COMM classes and the work he does for media services and recognizes that his love for video can easily pair with his love for sports broadcasting.
“The COMM Department and Media Services, they tie in together so well. It’s been such a useful pair to have both of those things in my life.”
Tad Martinson, class of 2027 at Olivet nazarene UniverSITY
