The Humans of RV project is a weekly column based on Brandon Stanton’s seminal “Humans of New York” project, which seeks to “catalog the city’s inhabitants” through photography and brief interviews. RV seeks to expand on this project with our own “cataloging” of RV students and an examination into all the unique perspectives here at school. 

Note: this transcript has been edited and condensed for publication purposes.

Last year I accidentally stumbled into the RVTV studios, not knowing it would be a catalyst for a whole new chapter of my life. One wrong turn led to the creation of my persona as Jeff Scott; RV TV’s loud, over-the-top anchor.

When I was younger, I never really thought about being an anchor since I was a pretty quiet kid and not that outgoing. My plan for life was to have fun, like my dad always said,  “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

I thought I was going to be an engineer. Maybe because I am in the PLTW engineering program at our school. But I never really saw myself in that chair, though. I love creating things, and engineering is a lot of fun, but all the tech-savvy things were for my classmates, not really for me.

Once I joined RVTV, I enjoyed recording and playing around with how I present myself. I got to be a very open and carefree version of myself and it’s really taught me a lot about who I am.

I am a person whose energy reflects the vitality around me. People who see me on the news think I always act like that, but I actually don’t. I can be as calm as I can be loud. But that’s what I love about being able to anchor.; I’ve been able to realize that there’s this persona in me and also learn to communicate with it.

When I anchor on RVTV, I want to be able to get the information out and at the same time I want to add some excitement to it. This is a hard balance to find, but I think I have found it. Along with that, I’ve been learning to filter my hyper self.

When I am the booming Jeff Scott instead of William Jefferey Scott, I can be very unfiltered, saying things like an elementary school kid, not really stopping myself. I think that could be the case for many people. Being an anchor at RVTV is a lot of fun, and it’s really made me realize my potential and passion for communications. And, the icing on the cake  is my acceptance into the KYW Newsradio Newstudies Program and the opportunity it’s given me to tap into my new passion. So far, I am really enjoying it, and it’s teaching me a lot about anchoring. Though I enjoy anchoring, I think this is not my entire goal. Anchoring is fun, but you can’t really share what’s inside of you. That’s why I plan to do something where I can say what I want, like a podcast. But before that, I want to create an audience that knows me. So that is why I want anchoring to be the starting point of my career in communication.

I am really proud of myself for figuring out who I am and becoming the anchor I am today. But what encourages me the most is when people tell me that I am able to make them enjoy the news. That’s what makes me really feel successful.