Dec. 15, 2025
Contact: Cary Littlejohn, carylittlejohn@missouri.edu
Photo by Habi Mugisha
Madyson Carruth didn’t fully appreciate just how powerful a degree from the famed University of Missouri School of Journalism was until she stepped away from campus.
“It’s kind of hard to really see the fruits of your labor here in Columbia because everybody here is doing such great work,” Carruth, a journalism major with an emphasis in social media and audience strategy, said. “But when you take yourself out of Columbia, you can really see just how much the journalism school is respected, how your skill set is so unique and how prepared you are at the end of the day.”
Carruth made the most of her time at Mizzou through student organizations, dedicated faculty mentors, a hands-on curriculum and real-world journalism experiences.
Solid foundations
It wasn’t a given that the Kansas City native would be a Tiger. All that was certain was that she would attend college.
“My parents didn’t go to college, so I heard from a very young age, ‘You’re going to go to college,’” Carruth said. “They really instilled the importance of education. I grew up going to the library every week and getting Dr. Seuss books in the mail.”
She started her collegiate career studying public relations at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
When she returned to her home state’s flagship university as a transfer student to begin her sophomore year studying communications, she marveled at how smoothly the process worked.
In no time, Carruth was searching out opportunities to make her college experience her own. Through a friend’s invitation to a meeting of Mizzou’s chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, she found a community that set the trajectory for her next three years and her career after graduation.
“I loved how big it was and how these students knew what they wanted to do with their lives,” Carruth said. “They looked like they had things figured out. That inspired me.”
She changed her major to journalism the next semester.
Mizzou’s highly regarded faculty helped Carruth chart her path. Associate Professor Kathryn Lucchesi introduced her to social media and audience strategy, showing her new possibilities to complement traditional journalism. Assistant Professor Kara Edgerson guided her deeper into digital engagement and later brought her on as a teaching assistant. And Damon Kiesow, the Knight Chair in Journalism Innovation, mentored her capstone and connected her with valuable professional opportunities. Their guidance set the stage for the hands-on learning that would define her time at Mizzou.
A curriculum that does the work
The cornerstone of Mizzou’s reputation is the Missouri Method — a philosophy of learning by doing.
Carruth can’t imagine any other way of learning journalism skills.
“What are your classes like if you’re not actively going out in the community and interviewing people?” she asked. “How else do you learn?”
Her role as Edgerson’s teaching assistant allowed her to further these skills by helping other students master them.
She also helped lead efforts to explore new social media platforms at the Columbia Missourian, the digital-first community newsroom staffed by students in the journalism school and overseen by professional editors.
“I started the Missourian’s TikTok,” Carruth said. “I’m laying the foundation for it. We’re doing a lot of experiments to see how stories perform, what stories perform the best. Students are getting a lot of vertical-video experience. It’s teaching them how to get footage, what footage to get and how to edit.”By her senior year, she was more than ready to venture beyond Columbia and contribute her talents to other newsrooms.
Real-world experience
Mizzou’s world-class journalism education extends beyond the hands-on learning of classes; students benefit from an extensive network of internships and real-world learning opportunities.
Carruth’s opportunity took her to Minnesota, where she joined the staff of the Sahan Journal in the Twin Cities.
Her manager there was surprised by how much she already knew about social media and audience engagement.
“That’s when I started to realize, ‘Oh wow, my work does set me apart,’” Carruth said. “I can knock out an assignment in 30 minutes, but they were expecting me to need a whole day.”
Her time at the Sahan Journal proved to be a valuable experience as she discovered new things about audience engagement.
“I learned the community aspect of it,” Carruth said. “We did these community listening events where we went out and just had conversations, trying to build trust. We did a lot of work to just put our name out there. Here in Columbia, everybody knows the Missouri School of Journalism. We don’t have to do as much of that here.”
As a first-generation college student, Carruth has long considered the power of a degree. At Mizzou, that degree is backed by experienced faculty, hands-on learning opportunities and internship experiences that set her apart.
“I’m walking across the stage with two or three years of journalism experience, and I’m 23 years old,” Carruth said. “It doesn’t really get better than that.”
