Post Photo by Chris Siers Spencer Ato has joined the Bedford County Post as an intern during his senior year of high school. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)
STAFF REPORT
Spencer Ato has moved around quite a bit during his scholastic tenure. Having recently moved to Cascade for his senior year, Ato wanted to pursue a venture in photography and journalism.
For the remainder of his senior year, Ato has joined the staff of the Bedford County Post as an intern.
“I hope to gain experience that I will use for the rest of my career when it comes to photography and journalism. I also hope to make lifelong connections with my peers and connect with the Bedford County community more,” he said.
Ato got his start with photography as a bit of a school assignment with the wrestling team.
“I first started photography by taking photos for my schools wrestling team. I went to one practice and sort of got the hang of it, however, a week later the coach ended up leaving the school so I was just left with a camera I knew nothing about. So I continued taking photos of everything and I fell in love with it,” he said.
The rest is history.
Knowing that photography is just a single component of telling a complete story, Ato wanted to pursue a path with journalism and joined the staff of the Post this fall and will be working within the sports department, as well as filling in on community features as well.
“I’m always excited to bring on an intern,” Bedford County Post Sports Editor Chris Siers said.
“I’ve always had mentors in this industry and always kind of had someone to show me the way. It’s really an honor to be able to pass on what I know through real world experience to someone eager to get into a new path.”
“We love to continue to connect with our community and having Spencer join us as an intern will be a great asset. It’s great to see him wanting to make a way in this industry and we are here to help him with that. He is in great hands with the mentorship of Chris Siers.” Bedford County Post General Manager Diandra Womble said.
Ato, originally from Atlanta, moved to Apex, North Carolina in 2011 until he made the move to Middle Tennessee in the past few months.
After getting the itch to learn photography, he spent several months working on fine tuning his ability behind the lens.
“I spent about a year just learning what my camera can do and how to properly work it before retrying sports photography. When I did end up retrying, I became a lead sports photographer for my school, attending as many games as I could to get photos,” Ato said.
After learning photography basics, Ato pursued a path that led him to work with the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team.
“After I fell in love with photography I found myself asking “what can I do with this?” While having that question in mind, I applied to work at the Durham Bulls (a minor league baseball team in North Carolina). I ended up getting the job and doing various media related jobs for their broadcast. One of those was journalism adjacent, where I would keep the scores and stats and report them to the officials to put on the screen. I really enjoyed that aspect of having to be involved with the game and keep track of everything that was going on,” Ato said.
“I found that it was like a new way to enjoy a sport that I already loved, as well as being able to be more directly involved with the games as well.”
That first-hand experience lit a fire in Ato as he hopes to continue building experience both behind the lens, as well as through his writing.
“The sport that I enjoy covering the most would have to be baseball as I grew up playing it in elementary and middle school. I also grew to love baseball even more after I worked with the Durham Bulls last season, as I got to meet and work with the players as well as any team that used the field (like the Savannah Bananas),” he said.
“One sport that I haven’t covered that I would love to get the opportunity to do would be any kind of motorsport. Motorsports, and cars in general, are one of my biggest passions aside from journalism and I often find myself looking to work on my car whenever I can.”
When he’s not on the sidelines or watching baseball, Ato has plenty of hobbies that keep him busy.
“In my free time I love to play guitar, go to record stores, read my never-ending pile of books, and watch Formula 1. Anytime there is a Formula 1 Grand Prix or Qualifying Session I wake up early for it, even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. in the morning just to watch my favorite drivers retire early in a race,” he said.
“I’m excited to bring an eager newcomer onboard. I’ve worked in sports journalism for almost 15 years and it’s always exciting to have an intern come on, willing to learn. One thing that stands out to me about Spencer is his willingness to learn. Journalism is a tough industry and I have full faith he’s willing able to meet the challenge head on, and pick up a few tricks of the trade along the way,” Siers added.
Ato is a senior at Cascade High School and has plans to attend MTSU to pursue a degree in Global Studies.
“I plan on attending MTSU and majoring in global studies, and then after graduating, begin my work in the journalism industry by freelancing. I also want to work freelance from my photography as one of my main goals in my future is to travel as much as I can for my job,” he said.
Look for Spencer out and about in the community, from covering feature events, to on the sidelines covering sports.
