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Melanie Gillott

I love theatre, singing, and writing.
"If you've got a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

Latest posts by Melanie Gillott (see all)

• The Future is Mine club hosts career and college fair - March 30, 2017
• SHS student job shadows WPXI’s Peggy Finnegan - March 3, 2017
• Local singer moves to LA to pursue music career - March 1, 2017

For Southmoreland sophomore Kaelei Whitlatch, the requirement of having to job shadow as part of Southmoreland High School’s The Future is Mine club was a dream come true. 

Last month, the 16-year-old got to job shadow one of her  role models, WPXI Channel 11 News journalist Peggy Finnegan.

“Last year I job shadowed at a smaller station in Johnstown called WJAC. But I wanted to see what it would be like at a bigger station,” Whitlatch said. “Being at a small station was very educational, but I visited on a weekend and it was very quiet. I wanted to see the more crazy, busy side of the career field.”

Her day started off with a college visit at Duquesne University with her older sister, Jolene DiLeo.

Pictured: The view from one of the walkways at Duquesne.

“Duquesne is a very unique campus. It’s in the middle of the city, yet it’s tucked away into it’s own little world,” DiLeo said. “We had the opportunity to tour the campus, which has a lot to offer. The staff and students were all very friendly and knowledgeable.”

Whitlatch agreed.

“Duquesne is a very big campus. It’s very pretty and windy. I didn’t feel like I was in the city. Our tour guide was very friendly. He remembered I wanted to major in broadcasting, so he stopped the group just to show me the journalism and newspaper building.”

After visiting Duquesne University and a lunch trip to the Cheesecake Factory, it was finally time to for her to meet her idol.

“Peggy gave me a tour of WPXI. From the control room to the studio, I got to see everything,” she said. “They have multiple studios, which was really interesting. Peggy told me that (singer) Jackie Evancho was going to perform in the exact studio we were in. It was neat.”

Pictured: (from left) David Johnson, Kaelei Whitlatch, Peggy Finnegan, and Jolene DiLeo

DiLeo was psyched to meet Finnegan.

“It was like meeting someone famous,” Dileo said. “She was very down to earth and friendly.”

Finnegan has worked at WPXI Channel 11 News as a co-anchor alongside David Johnson for 27 years.

“Everyone in our newsroom at some point was like Kaelei at one time; (we were once) students interested in what it would be like in the television news business, so we all understand and want to help,” Finnegan said. “In fact, the day Kaelei came I was incredibly busy working on a story about a program at Magee Womens Hospital that treats pregnant addicts and their babies. Because I was working on the story, other people had to step in and show her around.  Kaelei met people in our social media department, she met our studio crew, producers, my co-anchor David Johnson, all of whom shared a bit of what role they play in the making of a news broadcast.”

Before Finnegan began her career in Pittsburgh, she started as a reporter at a radio station. She then worked at a small TV station in Illinois, where she worked her way up into anchoring. Later, she was hired in Syracuse as a reporter/anchor and then moved to Pittsburgh.

“You bop around a lot in the news business, moving from one TV market to the next,” Finnegan said. “Hopefully always to a bigger town and a better position.”

While touring the station with Finnegan, Whitlatch said that she got to meet the station’s social media manager.

“There is such a huge competition between Pittsburgh news stations. It was unexpected to see how they watch to see what the other stations are reporting,” Whitlatch said. “They had TVs everywhere just monitoring their competition. They also monitor how many views they get online versus other stations.”

The newsroom at WPXI.

Meeting the social media manager widened Whitlatch’s horizon.

“I realized that there is so much that goes into the news than just cameras, lights, and reading off a screen. There are so many people involved,” Whitlatch said. “Meeting that manager was amazing. She showed me how Facebook Live works, how she tweets on the Twitter, and so on. That made me consider going into the digital side of things.”

Whitlatch also got to go into the recording room where Finnegan and Johnson record promos for the news.

“They emphasize their words to make sure to grab people’s attention. Their voices also go up octaves on certain words. I really wanted to laugh, but I knew if I did they’d have to start all over again,” said Whitlatch. “It was about the smallest room I had ever been in.”

DiLeo thought the room was interesting as well.

“I had no idea that’s how they recorded their promos, so it was a learning experience for sure,” DiLeo said. “It was a tight squeeze for sure.”

Whitlatch and her sister stayed for the 5 p.m. evening news and got to watch Finnegan, Johnson, reporter Lisa Sylvester, and meteorologist Steven Cropper do the news in the studio.

“Compared to the station I visited before, this station was much more hectic during live broadcasts,” Whitlatch said. “They were always having to change the order of stories and people would talk even if they were on the air. It was much different than what I watch on TV in my living room.”

“It was a very neat experience getting to tour the facility and meet all of these people in person that you get to see on air everyday,” DiLeo said.

Overall, Whitlatch said that the experience was very educational and fun.

“Peggy is such an inspiration. I aspire to be like her some day,” said Whitlatch.

One of Finnegan’s most memorable stories that she has covered was when two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City on  September 11, 2001.

“We were on all day,” Finnegan said.

“Peggy told me that the scariest part of her job is reporting breaking news. She never knows how bad the situation is, and it’s like cold reading a script,” Whitlatch said. “On top of that, she has to remain calm no matter the scenario. That’s something that’s going to stick with me for a long time.”

In addition of being the sophomore representative of The Future is Mine club, Whitlatch is a member of the Southmoreland girls’ golf team, show choir, musical arts, concert band, Random Acts of Kindness, Yearbook and Tam O’Shanter staffs, and this year’s school play, Under the Big Top.

In the future, Whitlatch plans to go to college and to major in communications; specifically, she wishes to pursue broadcasting or digital media.

Here is the link to Finnegan’s recent story: http://www.wpxi.com/news/new-program-addresses-opioid-crisis-in-newborn-babies/498589974