Charmere Gatson

UWF degree and year of graduation:
BA, Comm. Arts, 2003

Why did you choose to attend UWF?
It was at home, right where I needed to be – around my media mentors and my family. I felt I would gain so much from being here, and although at home, it was the place where I felt I could get the sturdiest foundation before venturing out to launch my career. My father is a UWF alumnus, so I knew UWF was excellent in its standards of education.

What were your goals as a student?
Definitely, I wanted to stay at the top of my class and achieve as much as I possibly could. As I graduated summa cum laude and in the top 1% of my class from Tate High, people were telling me that college would be so hard, that I might not make As, and that I’d have to accept Cs or lower sometimes. However, I determined not to slack as a college student and not to allow those discouragements – based on others’ experiences – to scare me. I wanted to try my very best to continue as an honor student. When my classes were really hard, I still tried to maintain my grades, even if it took late-night and early-morning hours of study time. Also, I wanted to gain experience with my internships through the Communication Arts program, and I wanted to become a journalist and work in local media as an anchor, in a major magazine as an editor, or in governmental public affairs and media – preferably at the federal level.

What is your best memory from your days at UWF?
Working with Nautilus News. It was very stressful, but in a good way. The people I was around were great. We would drag in on “show” (newscast) days, and sit around with frowns from being tired and mumble under our breaths how we couldn’t stand the work of compiling tapes, doing last-minute interviews and creating “CGs” (on-screen graphics and words), but we knew we had a show to produce by a certain time – and our grade depended on it. Mark Lambert really took the time to help and encourage us, and I developed long-lasting working relationships with my peers, some who are now working as anchors and reporters for television stations. I also will never forget those days in my 8 a.m. media law class which I thought was so tough, at first, because I could not understand the “legal” side of things from a lawyer as instructor; but, media law soon became the most intriguing of all the classes I took at UWF. Because of the class, I was able to take a smooth ride through J-school (grad-level) media law and ethics courses, and I’m able to apply many of those same laws to my work today in the federal government arena. And I can’t forget about my memories as a member of UWF Gospel Choir. Those were the days!

Who was your favorite professor and why?
Gordon Paulus. He was an adjunct professor who taught basic and advanced newspaper reporting. His classes were hard, but he worked with us and made sure we grasped the concepts before moving forward. He was a sports writer for the Pensacola News Journal and made it possible for me to get hired on with them before graduation. As I teach the basic newspaper reporting course today for the university, I find myself utilizing a lot of the same teaching and editing techniques that he used when I was a student in his class. Also, Dr. Bruce Swain was outstanding in his way of “pushing” me to reach new heights in writing once I got beyond the basic reporting level and worked my way up to The Voyager’s editing staff, USA Today, and the News Journal.

What do you do now?
Well, since we’re speaking of UWF, I’ll first say that I am an adjunct for UWF, teaching basic newspaper reporting online. Full-time, I work for the Department of the Navy as a Financial Management Analyst and am about to graduate from the Navy’s wonderful Financial Management Training Program. Although it’s not directly journalism-based, I do a lot of technical writing related to finance, and I use a lot of math, accounting, and finance skills; I spend some time attending Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill and visiting with Congressman Jeff Miller. I spent this entire past winter season (three months) working on the President’s Budget for FY08 at the White House. That was an amazing experience that I was selected to take part in. I had plenty of time to utilize my writing and editing skills during that time, as I wrote some of the chapters and edited the work of others. Before I started with the government, I was a reporter for a couple of years at the Pensacola News Journal; and now, when I find time, I do a lot of freelance writing, photography and editing.

How did UWF help you progress to this point?
UWF allowed me to reach my goals by offering me opportunities to work in so many different areas. The university as a whole opens doors for us as students and continues to do so even for its alumni. The faculty, staff, and even the president offered constant encouragement. The Communication Arts faculty pushed me to do better, and through them, I was able to work as an intern for USA Today and for WUWF radio. These experiences and their recommendations opened the doors that I’m walking in today, such as my job as an adjunct.

How do you stay connected to UWF?
Through the alumni publications. I also stay in touch with Dr. Swain and other faculty members to get the latest or to get advice. I come to UWF athletic events when I am in Pensacola, and I am an adjunct for Comm. Arts, so through my UWF email, I am always able to receive news about what is going on around campus. I am constantly in contact with the university.

What advice do you have to current and future UWF students?
If you don’t experience “real college life” (greek life, student activities, athletics, etc.), make sure you experience all that academic life has to offer. Get to know your professors; develop working relationships with them so you can use them in the future for help, advice and recommendations. Make the best of your academic career. Network with other students and staff members, because you never know what someone else knows that can help open doors for you. There is more to college than just having fun! Learning is essential. Be smart about all that you do – whether the “real college life” or the academic life.

What quality makes UWF special or unique?
The atmosphere, the beauty of the campus, the trees, the water, and the nature trail. Other Florida colleges are not as well kept up and are not nearly as beautiful as UWF. The location is great, being so close to the water. The sincerity of the faculty and staff is amazing. I never met one faculty or staff member who didn’t have my best interests at heart. The honors program exposed me to so much that I am grateful for, such as the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and many more views of UWF’s uniqueness beyond the main campus.

Outside of working, what activities and organizations are you currently involved in and what are your hobbies?
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the Delta Iota Omega chapter of Pensacola; tour director and a program coordinator for the Emmaus Kidz Program – a youth mentoring program in Pensacola; the National Association of Black Journalists; Society of Professional Journalists; American Society of Military Comptrollers; the Phenomenal Women debutante program; volunteering for the University of Maryland (grad school) alumni association; and I’m currently pursuing my second master’s degree, an MBA from Regis University.

I love to learn, so I spend a lot of time studying – even now, four years after graduating from UWF. I am involved with my church in many capacities. I love to dance, do freelance writing, editing, graphic design, and photography work, play the keyboard, sing, and travel. Music is my passion. It keeps my spirits lifted from one day to the next. Most importantly, I love spending quality time with my immediate family, especially my two adorable nephews.

Back to top