On Dec. 14, Carly (Evans) Hawthorne spoke to students about being radio on-air talent, music director and program director during PRIDE Time. Hawthorne is a graduate of both Hays High School and Fort Hays State University. She is an Academy of Country Music (ACM)-nominated, three-time Texas Regional Radio Music Personality of the Year.

In the past, Hawthorne has worked at several stations throughout Kansas, Texas and Colorado as on-air talent, studio engineer, music director or program director. She is currently the program and music director for Mountain Country in Colorado Springs.

“I fell in love with broadcasting thanks to, well you know it as, Channel 13 [Tribe Broadcasting],” Hawthorne said. “I decided on a whim to sign up for the introductory class and just loved it. I started doing that, then I signed up for the advanced class. Well, it turns out you have to have permission to do that. Thankfully, he was already going to ask me.”

To conclude her presentation, Hawthorne said that you should not compare others’ successes to your own and that everybody struggles with something, even though you just see their “highlight reel.”

“You don’t feel like you’re where you’re supposed to be in your life because you’re comparing yourself to all of these other people that are more successful, and you see their highlight reel,” Hawthorne said. “That’s something to remember on, like, social media and stuff; it’s a highlight reel. You’re not seeing everything. Everybody’s going through the same thing you are. At some point, somebody else has been there before. Somebody else has struggled with the same thing.”

20maustin@usd489.com