The Dublin Citizen is pleased to be joined for the rest of summer by a journalist intern from Tarleton State University, Reese Keeling.
“We can’t thank the Citizen enoughforwelcomingourstudents. The experiences Reese will gain this summer will be invaluable for her. She is a wonderful student and passionate about storytelling. We are excited to see her grow and learn in Dublin,” Tarleton Journalism Program Lead Austin Lewter said.
Keeling is going into her senior year at the university as a sports communications major with a minor in kinesiology and is Editor in Chief for the Texas News Service at Tarleton.
No stranger to the field of journalism, Keeling has already gotten to tour the offices of The New York Times, worked on her high school yearbook and newspaper, learned about sideline interviewing from A-Z Sports Media, covered Texas Tech and TCU football and served as art director for Texas News Service.
Most recently, she participated in a question and answer session with the Texas Press Association for its annual convention in College Station about how Gen Z consumes news.
Keeling began her educational journey towards Tarleton long before she even graduated from high school in 2022 in Leander.
In 2014, her dad, Tommy Keeling was inducted into Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame for baseball. When Reese saw the campus she really enjoyed it. In 2020, she had a cousin graduate from the university and loved how much smaller it, and Stephenville was, compared to the area surrounding Leander.
“My graduating class had 1,000 students in it,” she said.
While in high school, she fell even more in love with dance and was on her high school dance team until a bad hip injury changed her course.
“My mom and dad sat me down and said I should find somethingelsethatIcoulddo,” she said. She had previously had a photojournalism class that she really enjoyed and as a junior was helping with the newspaper and yearbook. Her love of sports and the ability to combine it into a career became apparent when she started working with A-Z Sports Media. The professional company covered semi-pro football, did sideline interviews and much more.
“I really, really enjoyed it,” Keeling said.
During her senior year, she served as co-Editor in Chief for her school’s yearbook teaching her even more about photography and layout.
Graduating high school with already a year of college completed, Keeling headed to Tarleton. As luck would have it, Keeling actually ended up in the wrong group at orientation and Lewter walked over to her to see what she needed. She joined the newspaper staff the next day.
One of her most memorable experiences came in November 2023 when she got to attend a class at University of Houston with Julia Morales, the sideline reporter for the Astros. Learning many skills, Keeling was also able to produce a 30 second news clip as part of the class as an example of what being a sports reporter is all about.
With the class, her dreams have been cemented and Keeling wants to be a multimedia sports journalist, hopefully one day for ESPN. She enjoys working on social media and completing graphics assignments as well as writing and photography.
When not in school or working for the Citizen, KeelingalsoworksforLegends Country Club in Stephenville. She enjoys spending time with her adorable dog named Pippa who she adopted from the Erath County Humane Society, enjoys reading and cooking and going to concerts with friends and her siblings.
She is the daughter of Melanie and Tommy Keeling and the sister of Reagan and Taylor Keeling. While at the Citizen, Keeling will be completing a variety of assignments.