The Consummate Storyteller: Jessica Pace ’18
Jessica Pace’s passion for storytelling, love of multimedia journalism, and radiant energy is contagious. The senior Journalism and Communication Studies dual major is the effervescent, focused, and driven Newscast Editor and Producer of URI’s 5-Cent Cigar Newscast, the only program on campus that produces video content for the University. Pace selects, produces, and writes her own and others’ content for the program. She thrives on change, and, as such, the fast-paced world of journalism—and this creative, rigorous position as a voice of URI news—is a natural fit for her.
The mission of the Newscast is to offer the URI community a holistic image of recent happenings on campus. “We live in a world that constantly changes,” Pace emphasized, “and we all rely on multimedia journalism. It’s immediate, and students deserve to know what happens on campus.” Indeed, the 5-Cent Cigar—the University’s print news source since 1971—is evolving into a multimedia presence. The two-year-old Newscast airs on YouTube, RhodyCigar.com, and on screens in the Memorial Union. Pace hopes that soon “it will broadcast on as many URI screens as possible.” She described the program as in its early stages, and she plays a role in establishing the Newscast as a campus-wide entity. “It gives me chills! It’s such a rewarding job, and I am proud to be a leader and help it grow.”
Perhaps the most exciting part of the Newscast’s growth is a $149,800 grant awarded by the Champlin Foundation to the Harrington School of Communication and Media to renovate the TV studio. “The URI Broadcast Center will be the only facility of its kind and magnitude across the state.” Adam Roth, Director of the Harrington School and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “The Center will include state-of-the-art digital video/sound recording and production capabilities, and will significantly enhance and expand our current curriculum and job placement opportunities for students.” The renovations will be completed after Pace’s graduation, but she is confident that she has “left her mark” and is thus eager to see the evolution of the program after she parts ways with URI.
Pace was recently hired as an Eyewitness News Producer for WPRI Fox Providence, which she will continue full-time post-graduation. Her ultimate goal to be a producer, she says, was realized through her work on the Newscast. She is grateful to those who have encouraged her on her journey of self-discovery, leadership, and realizing her dreams, particularly her mother whom she describes as her biggest support as she pursues her journalism career. “If not for journalism, I wouldn’t be who I am.” Pace articulated. “I learn about myself through learning about others’ stories.”
Pace is confident that the theoretical grounding she has received in the classroom will prepare her for the real world. At the same time, she feels that real-world experience working for the Newscast and in internship programs in journalism allow her to better grasp the knowledge she has gained in classes. For her, the URI community is a home, a place where she has found her voice as a journalist. “I am where I am meant to be because of URI.”
Aria Mia Loberti (Class of ’20 with a triple major in Communication Studies, Philosophy and Political Science), interning as the College of Arts & Sciences Staff Writer, wrote this story.