Katie Cole recently spoke at a conference and quickly pronounced herself as a hoodrat, which immediately put her audience at ease. Looks can certainly be deceiving when meeting Katie, this young lady with a solemn look. Katie goes to college online at Southern New Hampshire University, her degree will be in Graphic Design for Media Arts and Web Site Development. She volunteers at her local church in the media department, enjoys hiking, playing dominoes on a daily basis, and listening to a variety of podcasts.
A common thread of interest that kept surfacing as Katie expounded was her ever progressing path of learning, whether graphic design or ways to plan a counter attack in dominoes. Katie goes to college online taking one class, which runs eight weeks, per semester. She learns about different aspects of design, graphics and print. Her passion for media and design clearly shine through as she spoke about all the different aspects of her work and degree. “I knew if I got my degree, I would be able to help others in making their online presence more visible.” She endeavors to help churches on a lower budget to increase their media presence on different social media platforms.
As Katie navigates through work and college, she tries to keep a balance by taking time to hike and play dominoes with a focus on relaxation. If hiking alone, Katie had tips on ways to be safe but also on how to let others know your location. She uses a couple of hiking apps like Alltrails for location purposes since she once got lost on a hike and the hiking app assisted her in getting back to safety. Katie playing dominoes with family and friends sounds riskier than hiking alone. Katie talked about playing dominoes against her dad who is a third generation domino player, so it definitely is an interesting family time game. Katie remembers all her life hearing dominoes slam down or friends just talking around the table. “As a kid watching them, it was almost like breaking bread with somebody,” Katie fondly described her childhood memories of growing up around domino games.
Katie’s face lights up in excitement when podcasts are mentioned in conversations. Katie thoroughly enjoys listening to podcasts with a particular interest in crime podcasts. Katie has a list of several podcasts that focus not only on true crimes but certain types of crimes.
Katie is quick to give her opinion on several cases such as the Jon Benet case since her intense interest in not just podcasts but how the criminal mind thinks. “My sister Kaycee and I argue about this case all the time, we have debated about this case for hours.”
Katie is looking forward to working in her field of interest but also is looking for ways to combine her interest in ways to help others. As she learns more of her trade, interests and grows in her personal knowledge, the future looks bright and successful for Katie Cole.