If you've tuned into Central Florida Public Media this week, you may have noticed a new name on our airways and our website, reporting on education.
Education is one of the biggest issues shaping Central Florida. From K-12 schools to colleges and universities, decisions about funding, policy and student success affect communities across the region.
Central Florida Public Media is committed to covering education, and that's why we've added an education reporter to our newsroom.
Her name is Kayla Kissel. We welcome her.
Q. 1 Kayla, you hit the ground running. You started on Monday, and jumped right into a story about the Orange County superintendent retiring after this school year?
A. 1 “Yeah, I think it helped that I have a bit of history with the station, going back to a student reporting project while I was at UCF. It was called Sounds of Central Florida.”
“t was somewhere during the process of recording the interviews and putting together the piece that I really became addicted to audio, and honestly, just kept coming back. I interned with you all, and then came back in 2024 as a producer for the One Small Step Reporting Project. Apparently, I'm kind of incapable of staying away.”
Q. 2 Why choose public media?
A. 2 “I've always connected more with the mission behind public media, which is essentially serving the community with transparency, accuracy, independence, and most importantly to me, being inclusive.”
“And I'm also a huge audio nerd, and I geek out on editing, so audio as my medium for journalism kind of just made sense.”
Q. 3 Kayla, you also like to include a lot of social media in your reporting?
A. 3 “I do. I love to utilize what social media has to offer, especially because we are radio, we are multimedia journalists, and it's fun to give a story a second life on various other platforms.
“Apart from that, it also reaches new audiences who rely on social media for their news. And then selfishly, it's fun to get creative.”
Q. 4 Why education?
A. 4 “Well, there's a lot with education. It shapes daily life for millions of Floridians. There's more than 2.8 million students enrolled in Florida's public K-12 schools, with hundreds and thousands more enrolled at the state's colleges and universities. But here across Central Florida, schools and higher education institutions are navigating issues around enrollment, teacher recruitment, school safety, technology, and you know, preparing students for the workforce.”
“And I have to tell you, a lot of people think that education is only important for people who have kids. I really don't think that's true. Public tax dollars go to fund it, and those decisions ultimately end up impacting all of us one way or another.”
Q. 5 It's your first week here, what’s something you've learned?
A. 5 “I've learned a lot. It's been a whirlwind of the first week, but I've really just been reminded of why I fell in love with journalism in the first place, and it's really the people and the passion they have, which I was able to witness firsthand this week.”
“Education is more than policies and board meetings, and it's not just about covering the bullet points of what's happening, but about listening. Ultimately, it's about understanding the potential fears, experiences, and you know the ups and downs that follow every decision.”
