An interview with Olivia Jaquith

We know that healthcare workers and first responders are among the vital frontline workers during this pandemic. This crazy time has also put a big, bright spotlight on local media outlets – newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. It’s an industry that has been under siege for the past several decades. An unintended consequence of this pandemic has been a renewed interest in, and reliance on, local media outlets. If you live in the southern tier of New York State, specifically the Elmira area, perhaps you’ve seen WENY-TV news anchor Olivia Jaquith. She’s a Marist Running alum, and she’s quite busy these days. We are very grateful that Olivia took a few minutes out of her frenetic schedule to participate in the Pandemic Papers.

Olivia was a sprinter on our team at Marist, but her collegiate track career was hobbled even before it started. She was also a top-flight soccer player in high school – in fact, she wasn’t sure which sport she would pursue in college. Thankfully, she chose Marist and she chose track. Or rather, track chose her. That’s because in the spring of her senior year, just months before the start of her freshman year at Marist, she tore her ACL in a club soccer game. That devastating injury, unfortunately, defined her time as a Marist track athlete. She often needed a big, bulky knee brace for practices and occasionally races. She was a fierce competitor, but fear of reinjury always lurked in the back of our minds. But alas, life isn’t all about track (although we’d sure like to think so!), and Olivia made the most of her time as a student and an athlete at Marist. And it shows in her burgeoning career in the media. Thanks again, Olivia, for participating in the Pandemic Papers.   

Describe your pathway to Marist College. If I recall, you had a lot of great options in terms of schools and sports coming out of high school. How and why did you choose Marist?

I had tremendous difficulty deciding on a school. My very artistic sister created a chart with a point system on it for each of the schools to which I was accepted. It factored in athletics, academics, food (I LOVE to eat), as well as other things. Based on the point system, American University came in first, but I would have had to choose between track and soccer, and the sports communication program was not as strong there. It ultimately came down to Marist and Quinnipiac, but Marist offered me the opportunity to play soccer and run track, which was a major selling point. And bonus -- I got to keep my school colors from high school.

Just months before arriving at Marist, you had a devastating knee injury in a soccer game. How did that impact your athletic career at Marist?

Coming into a Division I program, I was instantly behind. I had to relearn basic movements, like how to stand, how to bend my knee, and then eventually how to run. And although the coaching staff was incredibly supportive, I put pressure on myself to come back quickly because I didn’t want to feel like a scholarship had been wasted on me. In doing so, I pushed myself too hard, and never recovered the way I should have. Though I eventually learned to race competitively without a knee brace, the lateral movements and changes of speed required in soccer were too much for my body and I was unable to play collegiately as I’d hoped. On a positive note, however, teaching myself how to run “from scratch” gave me better form than I had achieved in high school.

Talk about your academic career at Marist. What did you major in, how did you like your academic experience here and how well did it prepare you for your post-graduate career?

I majored in Communications with dual concentrations in Journalism and Sports Communications, with a Spanish minor. Being in the Honors program lent itself to unique coursework outside my major, such as Ethics of Food and a course that focused on genocide. Marist was more hands-on with my communications studies than I could’ve imagined. I was fortunate enough to get into a Sports Documentary class with guest Professor Jon Frankel of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and we have maintained a relationship ever since. It was my Sports Comm professors -- Mirabito and Strudler -- who pushed me to be more hands-on, to explore television, and to experiment, when all I ever wanted to do was write for the local newspaper. Dr. Mirabito had me producing news packages on a weekly basis for part of my Honors capping project, and I remember him telling me when I debated whether to graduate a semester early that I had exhausted my resources and made the most of what was available at Marist. That was the invaluable push I needed.

Talk about your athletic career at Marist. What were some of your highlights and fondest memories?

My athletic career at Marist was, in a word, disappointing. The nerves that plagued my performance throughout high school increased exponentially at the Division I level, and although I held tough in practice, stepping on the track at a meet was different. I consistently put too much pressure on myself to perform, and therefore always fell short. My fondest memories were, however, trips to William & Mary. I am a history buff and always loved running around Colonial Williamsburg. Painful as it was, there was also no better bonding time than post-5 a.m. lift breakfast or ice baths. My favorite meet was my last -- because I competed in an event I had never run before, put no pressure on myself, and ended up performing well. It was also a rare meet where I doubled, so I finished out my collegiate career with a bittersweet 4x4, performing well, and, most importantly, with my track and soccer teammate from back home, Ericka Stewart.

How has your post-collegiate career gone – both professionally and athletically? What is your current job, how long have you been there and how is it going?

  

That’s a tough question. Career-wise, I was fortunate to get job before graduation with NBCUniversal in New York City. I worked in the Entertainment Division for more than two years, and worked on the PyeongChang Olympics Winter Games. My stint working on the Olympics made me realize that I had gotten too comfortable with my NBC family in a job that was not what I had in mind long term, so I knew it was time to move on. I moved back home briefly to regroup while working at BOCES as a Communications Specialist in Capital Region school districts. It had been just over two months when I received a job offer from a TV station in Elmira to be a full-time weekday morning anchor. Speaking to my mentors in the industry, this kind of on-air offer is unheard of, so I knew it was one I couldn’t pass up, even though I didn’t want to leave home or BOCES so soon. I’ve been at WENY TV since last April.  In October, my co-anchor was moved off the show, so I’ve been producing and anchoring solo since then. I go into work around midnight, gather and write all the stories, time the show out, write the graphic headlines for each story, select the video, write teases for each commercial break, and write and record news hits for our local radio stations. Then, at about 4:20 a.m., I start doing my hair and makeup. By the time I get dressed and get my mic and IFB on, it’s 4:59 a.m., and I have just enough time to turn on the teleprompter before I’m live on air for two hours. I’m typically working about 12 hours a day between all the work at the studio and social media and web posts. But because I have so much responsibility, my growth in this field has been exponential since I started. I’m happy to finally be pursuing my on-air dreams, while also getting to write, which is what made me first fall in love with journalism.

Athletically, my focus has been on weight lifting because running was putting such a strain on my injury-prone body. At my worst, I’m squatting about 75 to 100 pounds more than I was in college. More recently, though, I’ve been getting back into running. In December 2018, two of my best friends from high school and I decided we wanted to run the TCS New York City Marathon. All living in the city at the time, we were inspired to push ourselves. We started the qualification process throughout 2019, working our way through NYRR’s 9+1 Program, which guarantees you automatic entry to the next year’s marathon if you run nine qualifying NYRR races and either raise $1,000 or volunteer for one hour. Training for the marathon began last week, but it’s up in the air whether it will happen this fall.

How has the pandemic altered your life – professionally, personally, athletically?

The pandemic has had the most impact on professional part of my

life. As a news anchor, that has been just about the only topic we cover. Viewership has skyrocketed, and with it, public comments. It’s been difficult to strike a balance between keeping people informed and being accused of fear mongering. Most of the anchors and reporters at my station are now working remotely. But for me, there are so few people on the overnight shift as it is — from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m., I’m the only one there — and my show is the longest the station broadcasts, so anchoring from home would be extremely difficult. The only major difference is that now I leave after the on-air portion of my shift is over, and I remote in to my work desktop remotely to post stories to our website and maintain my social media accounts.

On a personal level, my sister-in-law is a hospital nurse in Washington, D.C. She and my brother are high school sweethearts, so I can hardly remember a time when she wasn’t in my life — we are very close. It’s been interesting to see things through her eyes, as healthcare professionals try to work with what they have. Thankfully, she is not in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, but I do worry about anyone working in that field, now more than ever.

How do you envision our future in this pandemic world, both short-term and long-term?

I would like to believe that the good we have seen come from this crisis will continue. While there are so many terrible things happening right now, on the positive side, many families are home together when they otherwise wouldn’t get to see each other, people have a newfound appreciate for the way life was before, and essential workers who we never thought of as everyday heroes — grocery store workers, postal workers, etc. — are now recognized for how much they’re helping us get through this crisis. I think this pandemic has given us all a chance to reevaluate.

Unfortunately, coronavirus is not going away any time soon. I remember reporting on it in China back in December of 2019 — no one paid it any mind then because it wasn’t spreading like wildfire just yet, and it hadn’t made its way to the U.S. That being said, graduations, weddings, major races — anything that brings a crowd together — will either be different or not exist for quite some time. Until vaccination is widespread, we must adhere to social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home mandates, and that could easily be two years away.

What message would you give to the current senior student-athletes in our track program about the loss of their final season and their final few months of college?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the current senior class because I can only imagine in what a difficult position those students must be. People are dying, so no one wants to hear a high school or college senior complain about missing out on those milestones. But because of that, I feel for them even more. It must be a terrible feeling to miss moments you will never get back, but not be able to share those grievances amid the gravity of our current health crisis.

Ultimately it was my choice, but I lost my final season and final few months of college as well. I made the decision to graduate early, and although not the same as involuntarily having those experiences taken away, it was heartbreaking. However, I believe that everything happens for a reason. You are missing your final season so that someone else’s grandfather can live to see her get married. You are missing your final few months of college so that our healthcare workers can see their children at home without sleeping outside for fear of spreading the virus. And although you won’t step on the track for Marist College again, you will put on your uniform again, with your former teammates alongside you, to race. Enter an open meet, sign up for a road race — the opportunities don’t stop once your time under the NCAA umbrella is over. You will always have been a Division I athlete.

What message would you give to any current underclassman on the team and any prospective student-athletes considering Marist?

When I moved out of my apartment after three and a half years at Marist, I looked around my empty room and asked myself, “What did I do here?” It was hard to pick anything out because it all went by too fast. There is much to experience, and I encourage you to take it all in because, as we’ve seen, no one knows what tomorrow will bring and it can all change so quickly. But over the course of your time at Marist, I advise you to surround yourself with as many good people as possible, and pick one area of growth upon which you want to build.