Did you know that Pingree has an Emmy Award? In 2024, Clay LePard ‘08, a NewsCenter 5 Cleveland TV reporter, generously donated the Emmy Award he received for a series of profiles he produced about people making a difference during the COVID-19 pandemic. As Dr. Johnson wrote in the weekly newsletter when LePard gifted his award to Pingree, “The stories recounted in Clay’s human interest series affirm Pingree’s mission to thrive in challenge and create a more just world.” The Highlander recently interviewed Mr. LePard about what sparked his interest in journalism.
When asked about his favorite memory from Pingree, Mr. LePard shared his appreciation for many different activities and interests that he was able to pursue. From catching the first touchdown of the year to performing as a supporting role in the winter musical to announcing dodgeball games in the Weld, he was grateful for all of the opportunities he was able to experience. The best part of those memories is that he shared them with others and he looked back on the special “camaraderie” and recounted how “those moments with the people at Pingree are some of my favorites.”
It was at Pingree where Mr. LePard found his calling towards journalism: “Pingree helped me explore what I was good at.” When he had the chance to announce basketball games with Mr. Young and write articles in the Pingree newspaper, “Columns,” it sparked an interest to learn more about journalism in college and he attended Syracuse University. Now a 12x Emmy Award recipient, Mr. LePard described how he searches out stories that “cover the weird and something people have never covered before.”
Mr. LePard encouraged students, especially seniors, “to find the right thing that excites you, and doesn’t feel like work, but something fun.” Once you find that he said, “Find what avenues you can go down. It might not be a linear path from one thing to another.” He shared how he originally wanted to be a sports reporter when he covered many different sports events including the Vancouver Olympics. However, he ultimately realized that he wanted to cover more broad-based news, and then he “leaned into what [he] liked.”
For students interested in a career in journalism Mr. LePard acknowledged that journalism has changed dramatically and looks much different than it used to; however he remarked that “good content will always be king.” His main piece of advice is that a career in journalism is now more accessible and he believes, “There’s not this barrier to enter that there used to be.”
AI has dramatically changed journalism and will continue to influence its future. Mr. LePard believes that people should learn to work with it and has joined his TV station’s AI committee as they understand “it’s one of those things we shouldn’t ignore.” He described how “we have to be leery of the fact that AI can look pretty convincing” but that “AI can’t give you the real story telling.” Some of the ways he finds AI helpful is to eliminate writer’s block, help brainstorm title ideas, and sort through data. He uses it to help him be as efficient as possible, while not solely relying on it. He uses ChatGPT to analyze data, Claude to help him with writing, and Gemini for overall research. Mr. LePard shared that building trust is essential for the future of journalism. He has found that he has been explaining facts more “explicitly” than he did in the past. He noted, “I think it’s about restoring trust because there are so many more voices than there were 10 or 15 years ago.” He explained how you have to make sure you’re telling people the truth and then also showing them where you got it from or how you know.
Mr. LePard’s Emmy is on display in the Alumni room. It serves as an inspiring reminder to Pingree of the impact that journalism can make in sharing stories during times of challenge. As he describes his news philosophy on the NewsCenter 5 Cleveland website, “We are no longer deciding what the public should know. We are helping audiences make sense out of it.”
