Name: Lonyae Coulter 
Major: Journalism
Minor: Writing 
Hometown: Originally from Flint, Michigan, but now lives in Kansas City, Missouri  

From Flint, Michigan, to Kansas City, Missouri, Lonyae Coulter eventually made her way to Fort Worth, Texas, to pursue what she loves most, journalism. Coming to Texas Christian University, she knew her place would be in the journalism department because of her high school experiences. During Coulter’s sophomore year of high school she decided to take a class in journalism and has continued taking classes ever since. With a passion for journalism, it is no surprise that the Introduction to Journalism class has had the most impact on her Bob Schieffer College of Communication experience thus far. “At first, I wanted to strictly do television news, but I’m open to trying podcasts and radio as well,” she said. “This course opened my eyes, and I learned about other jobs I could do with my major.”   

Coulter is able to practice her passion for journalism outside of the classroom through the TCU Daily Skiff. Since 1902, The Skiff has been the official student newspaper and a new issue is posted on TCU360.com every Thursday. In the newsroom, she is able to work with other students who share her passion and talk about what they want to do with journalism as well. She discovered The Skiff at an event put on by the Schieffer College where she met an upperclassmen journalism student who gave her a tour of the newsroom. “I met the assistant professor of professional practice and the director of student media. The professor asked me how well I knew how to work with InDesign, which is the program used for the TCU Daily Skiff print edition, and that’s how I got started.” 

Coulter is now a page designer for the weekly Skiff and coordinates pictures and stories submitted by students to be published.  

One experience from Coulter’s first year in college that stands out is when one of her professors took her class on a tour of the local NBC news station. In this class she was able to meet TCU alumni who worked at the news station, and was able to see the weatherman practicing on set. She is eager to return to the news station and would love the opportunity to visit other news stations in the area as well.  

When asked about her dream job, Coulter said, “As of right now, it’s still up in the air, but I’m thinking about starting a podcast while I’m in college and continue after that. I also want to either have my own talk show or be a news reporter. I’m still deciding because there’s a lot of different things I can do with journalism.” 

As a second-year student, Coulter offers advice to not worry so much about changing your major. She said it is something that will just happen if the time is right. Although she has not changed her major, she did make a shift to change her minor to writing to improve her journalism skills. With the next few years ahead in her college career, she said she is excited to see where her passion for journalism will lead her.