Alumni Story

I wanted to have opportunities to participate significantly in activities before I was a senior - a lot of times in a large school that doesn’t happen until your junior or senior year. You want to be able to participate earlier in your student career.”

Carey began his college experience as a student at a large state university…then he looked at colleges again. He had heard of Catawba, and that it had a strong performing arts program, which had long been an interest for him. He visited campus, met Dr. Hoyt McCachren who headed the performing arts program at the time, and fell in love with Catawba. “I loved the small school experience, not being in a hall with 300 other students,” he shares, “I wanted to have opportunities to participate significantly in activities before I was a senior - a lot of times in a large school that doesn’t happen until your junior or senior year. You want to be able to participate earlier in your student career.”

At Catawba, Carey quickly discovered plenty of opportunities to participate. He performed in one musical each year, playing the lead in “Pal Joey”. He took dance, and his campus work-study job was in the theater working on sets. He sang in the Chamber Choir. In his senior year, he was involved in Collegiathon, a program for non-Division 1 schools in which several area colleges competed with one another in a variety of different activities, including trivia, swimming, running, and more.

At the beginning of Carey’s Catawba experience, it looked as though he would most certainly gravitate to a major in the performing arts. It was a good fit. But no - instead, he found the right fit after taking a communications class at the start of his junior year. “I call it the curse of being diverse – I had so many different things that I was truly interested in,” he enumerates a few of them: theatre, dance, sports, writing - “and when I took communications, I found that all the things I’m interested in are valued in communications. I can have all these interests and indulge my curiosity and still have a stable career.” 

Learning from professor Dr. Karl Hales (now faculty emeritus) in the Communications department was phenomenal, Carey says. It was a great experience to be able to have his guidance and tutelage. Added to that, the curriculum in the Communications major was rigorous and applicable to real world experiences, and Carey quickly seized upon opportunities to do just that. His junior year, he and a friend who was also a communications major approached an announcer, Kent Bernhardt, at local radio station WSTP, about their idea and plans for a sports show. Their plans were approved, and they were put on the air. His senior year, he worked with the Juanita Bouser in Catawba’s public relations department. She asked him to edit The Pioneer, Catawba’s student newspaper, which in turn led to an internship with the local newspaper, The Salisbury Post.

After graduation, Carey revisited his earlier interest, doing some professional theatre for a while. He also freelanced as a journalist for newspapers in his hometown of Baltimore, worked at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis, NC, and then moved into sports news broadcasting at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut. “I learned that I wanted to be in front of the camera.” His path took him to Florida, earning a master’s degree in broadcast journalism, and a job as a television reporter for a station in Sarasota, where he was a one-man band, reporting in front of the camera, shooting the video, and editing his own stories. From there, he went to work at the CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach and then to a job in Miami-Fort Lauderdale at WFOR, the CBS-owned television station, before recently moving over to public information, a new area in the communications field. “I’ll always be someone who asks questions, communicates, informs,” Carey remarks.

That led to his current role with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, where he serves as Senior Public Information Officer. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has long hired former journalists for that position, he explains. He writes news releases and is one of the agency spokespersons, supporting the community and the work of the department. Along with his fellow PIOs, Carey writes and produces a cold case series that airs online. “We have an amazing team here in that we are all collaborative and support each other.” For those unfamiliar with its geography, Ft. Lauderdale, which is second in size to Miami, Florida, is located in Broward County along with thirty other municipalities and a population nearing 2 million at the last census. The Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement service to many cities in Broward and its 5,700 employees are also responsible for the 911 dispatch center, the courthouse, and the county jails.

Carey today continues to explore his many interests and share them with others, including much he learned in his Catawba major and his career. He teaches speech and communication at a local college, and he and his wife sing in their church choir and stay busy parenting their two boys, who are active in baseball, scouts, church, and music - recently, their entire family shared a memorable milestone performing together for the first time in their church’s praise band, with his oldest son playing electric guitar and youngest on keyboard.

His oldest son has developed a strong interest in history, and Carey reached out to his former Catawba history professor, Dr. Charlie McAllister (now retired), for advice on materials to guide him. He received a long list of resources from Dr. McAllister that his son could read and engage with. “I’m so grateful for that. That is something that would not happen at a large school where professors did not get to know you.”