ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060025
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-42 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
Cathi Jettit's jett elsewhere; charlie's line's busy - sue will never forget two names - "Flo Owens" and WSLS-TV (Channel 10).
Those two names play a big part in firming up a dream to go into broadcast journalism for the Glenvar High School senior.
"Flo Owens" was the name of a character Jett portrayed in a school play at Glenvar.
"It was then that I really realized that I'm comfortable speaking before groups of people," she said.
WSLS came into the picture last year when her school class toured the station's studios in Roanoke and she witnessed on-camera excitement.
"I talked with the people there about what they did and I knew right then that was what I wanted to do," she said.
Jett is one of 93 seniors graduating from Glenvar High, and in the fall she will enter Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., to major in broadcast journalism.
Glenvar's graduation will be June 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the school's Highlander Stadium. The speaker will be Fred Dixon, former principal at Glenvar Elementary School.
Jett said she had known for a long time that writing was easy for her and that she had a good speaking voice.
"Now I know I want to go into broadcast journalism because I can use both those interests," she said.
During her time at Glenvar, Jett's class also visited the offices of a magazine. She said that reinforced her leanings to on-camera television.
She sensed what she perceived to be a degree of boredom in writing for print media and decided, "That wasn't for me."
She has set her sights high and aspires to one day be on national network television in Washington or Chicago.
"I know I'll have to start at the bottom, probably on a local station in a small place," she said. "And for that I'll go anywhere in the country."
But she plans on working upward and getting into larger and more exciting markets. Also, she said she hopes to specialize in government reporting.
Jett has been developing her writing and on-camera skills for some time, especially in the 21/2 years she has been a student at Glenvar High.
She had a part in a video promoting an anti-alcoholic beverage message. The video has been shown to students at Glenvar, Northside and Cave Spring high schools.
For her major English class essay this year, she wrote on euthanasia.
Both the video and the essay were in line with her desire to promote traditional Christian ideals.
"One of my dreams was to make a difference," she said, "and I think I have. People here have thanked me for expressing my opinions."
Jett said that before entering Glenvar she had always attended Christian schools, mostly in Illinois and her native Indiana. When she learned that she would be in a public school in the Roanoke Valley, Jett said she decided to try to make the Glenvar students aware of Christian ideals.
Jett, one of Glenvar High's top 10 honor students, also sings, but plans to pursue that only as a hobby.
Glenvar's four highest ranking honor students are Perry Taylor, Heath Campbell, Brian Kaulback and Kendall Keffer.
Baccalaureate services will be Sunday at Lakeside Baptist Church at 4 p.m. with Rick Harmon as speaker. This event is sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Jett (headshot)by CNB