27-year-old alumnus James, or Jay, Greene once attended NHHS, but has made his way across the county to Colorado first, and then to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he works as a broadcast journalist. Greene was a guest speaker in the Journalism one class.

     As a kid, Greene said has always watched the news and was fascinated about how fast paced it and how they put it all together. The journalist first started his journey by attending North Harford High School. He then graduated and attended Harford Community College for two years and finished his last two collegiate years at Towson University. 

     Greene claims as soon as he got out of college, he applied to jobs sending out about 50-60 applications to new managers.  He only heard back from 4-5, “Wasn’t I good enough? What was I doing wrong?” The journalist adds, “it is a tiring and stressful process, but determination is key and that is something I have learned throughout this process.” 

     The set back did not stop Greene. The following November he got a call from a colleague with an opening as a reporter and web producer. Greene had to move 1,200 miles away to Grand Junction, Colorado to start his job at KKCO/KJCT, the NBC/ABC affiliate.

     Greene claims it was “tough moving away from home right before the holidays” however it soon came to be his “home away from home.” The journalist got to cover all kinds of stories including high-profile court cases, wildfires, presidential elections, and anything else you can think of.  

     Greene spent two years at this job before being promoted to the anchor position. After another year at this job, Greene claims he was “ready to start looking for the next step up in my business.” In November 2018, Greene moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to become a digital reporter and web producer. In April 2020, Greene was promoted to the morning anchor position and claims he is “having the time of his life!” 

     In Greene’s role as an anchor, he comes in around 3 a.m. every day to read through the stories that his producers have written and sometimes he helps write them. Greene “looks over them to make sure they make sense and that the facts are correct.” Adapting to getting up this early, Greene adds he can “loves coffee and can never have too much of it.” His broadcast studio goes live at 4:30 a.m. every morning and ends at 7 a.m. but the news process is “far from over” and “in fact it never really ends.” Many of the stories in the morning have questions that need to be answered and updated as the day goes on. The next show Greene has starts at 11 a.m. so he “has to make sure the stories are up to date and correct.” 

     Greene’s favorite part about being a broadcast journalist is “providing the viewers with the information that they need in order to make an informed decision about the world around them.” He claims it’s “not my job to give people recommendations or opinionated, biased reports. But rather how we can use this information to help people make decisions of their own.”