April 15, 2007
Columbia, Mo. - Note: This is the first of three feature stories about Mizzou's graduating tennis players. MU seniors Amanda Pratzel and Erika Josbena will be featured next week. All three stories will be posted on MUTigers.com and printed out for fans at the remaining home matches.
Charlotte Bellis, KOMU News, Columbia.
That is how MU tennis player Charlotte Bellis finishes her stories on KOMU-TV's Monday night newscasts. In the next month, Bellis will finish her Tiger tennis career and graduate from the Missouri School of Journalism. Over the past three years, Charlotte has played solid tennis, earned a college education and gained real-world journalism experience, all right here in Mid-Missouri. She is grateful for all of the people that helped her along the way.
"There are so many opportunities (in Columbia) ... it's just been one open door after another, helping me in the direction I want to go."
Head Coach Blake Starkey opened the first door for Charlotte. Starkey told her about MU's journalism school. Charlotte thought about a career in journalism and decided that was exactly what she wanted to do, so she accepted Starkey's scholarship offer and was admitted to Mizzou.
Charlotte did not take the same road most students at Mizzou take. After she graduated from high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, Bellis moved to Germany to play for a club team. Because she was in Germany when she was considering whether or not to attend Mizzou, she did not visit the campus, so when she came to Columbia about a week before the first day of classes in 2004, it was the first time she had even seen Missouri.
The first few months were tough at times, and Charlotte missed New Zealand and her family. But she was able to concentrate on tennis and school and she finished her freshman year with a 16-6 singles record, a 19-7 doubles record and two semesters of college under her belt.
Charlotte spent the next two years studying convergence journalism and playing tennis, doing both at a high level. Since the spring of 2006, Charlotte is 14-10 in singles play, and during that time she gained a lot of journalism experience. She has reported for two television stations, KMIZ and KOMU in Columbia, written a cover story for VOX magazine, worked on web casts for ABC news, and earned enough credits to graduate in three years. Charlotte admits it is often tough to schedule time for long days of reporting, schoolwork and tennis, but for her, the hard work pays off every day.
"It's really satisfying, at the end of the day when I can look back and realize I got that much done and that made it worth it for my future."
Charlotte's plans for the future include moving back to New Zealand, but not just yet.
"I want to be a foreign correspondent for TVNZ (Television New Zealand) in the Middle East and eventually be an anchor on the national news back home. Also, before I get a job reporting, hopefully in the west coast, it looks like I'll be in Washington, D.C. next semester interning with 'The Politics and Journalism Semester' program where I'll get to network with high profile politicians and network news correspondents."
As for the rest of this semester, you can see Charlotte's reporting skills on KOMU News at Ten on Monday evenings, and you can see her in person at the few remaining Mizzou home matches.
While Charlotte's accent indicates she is not from Mid-Missouri, she has enjoyed her time at Mizzou and is thankful for the experience she has gained. Everyone who helped her along the way can be proud of the girl from New Zealand who came to America to learn how to be a journalist, and is a little less than a month away from graduating from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, well on her way to achieving her goals.