FORMER MSCM LEADER NOW UPS SUPERVISOR

By Hayden Flinn

Steven Walters was a go-getter the day he stepped onto Georgia College & State University’s campus. He made his mind up early on that he was going to make the most of his college experience.

“Routine-wise, I took time to pray and get away from the noise of life,” said Walters. “And I routinely got around eight-plus hours of sleep and never pulled an all-nighter. It was a running friendly joke among my friends that I was a ‘grandpa’ due to my consistent bedtime, but I always felt rested and ready to go.”

Walters graduated in 2019 from GCSU with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. His dedication to schoolwork, the department and leadership did not go unnoticed. Walters was nominated by his faculty for the College of Arts & Sciences 2019 Medallion, which he won in the division of arts and communications. Additionally, he was the recipient of the department’s 2019 Mass Communication Outstanding Major Award.

Walters grew up in Marietta, Georgia. He graduated from Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell,

Georgia. And he chose GCSU because the campus had a “small school feel.”

“The first time I stepped on campus, it felt like home to me,” Walters said. “I had gone to some other bigger schools, but I liked the small school feel. It was small enough where you knew a lot of people and could build a good community, but it was still big enough that not everybody knew everybody. They were also just so many opportunities to get involved in.”

While Walters dabbled across media platforms, his primary concentration was journalism. And from the get-go, Walters was motivated to build a strong resume. During his sophomore year, Walters interned with Perfect Game. Between his junior and senior years, he interned with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Despite his resume-building off-campus, Walters also added to his resume through his continuous involvement on campus. He served as The Colonnade’s editor-in-chief for two years, during which he helped his staff win at least nine press awards and worked with 40+ staff members each year. He also contributed to

WGUR as a radio show host and to GC360 as a sports anchor and reporter. He was also a member of Lambda Pi Eta, a communication honors society.

Beyond the major, Walters served the broader GCSU campus as a Student Ambassador as a mentee and peer mentor. Additionally, he was active in the Emerging Leaders Program, Honors Program, Georgia Education Mentorship Program, Campus Catholics and GCSU Sports Information. He was also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the leadership honors society.

Walters grew up an avid baseball and Braves fan, and his love for sports drove his motivation to sports communications.

“It was my dream for a while to work in baseball,” Walters said. “Then priorities shifted, and I received an opportunity to go work for UPS.” up for success.

“There were so many great people and great advisors that I was able to learn a lot,” Walters said. “Also, (I) just had opportunities to grow, opportunities to fail and opportunities to try new things, so it was just an awesome place to be for me.”

“The first time I stepped on campus, it felt like home to me. I had gone to some other bigger schools, but I liked the small school feel. It was small enough where you knew a lot of people and could build a good community, but it was still big enough that not everybody knew everybody. They were also just so many opportunities to get involved in.”

Walters currently works as the shared services communications supervisor for the United Parcel Service (UPS), a Fortune 500 company that specializes in shipping and receiving.

-Steven Walters

“Internal communications encompass a lot of employee engagement,” Walters said. “I write feature stories on our people and some of the great work that they are doing. I write team stories to help educate people about what our teams do. We update memos, do presentation coaching and are a strategic advisor, where if someone needs to get a message out, we work with them to get that message out.”

Walters said he is grateful to GCSU for setting him

Walters recommended current mass communication majors should get involved as much as possible. He added there is no such thing as having too many communication skills.

“I did not anticipate myself going into internal communications, but honestly I have pulled from every experience that I had (at GCSU),” Walters said. “I’ve done design work. I’ve done presentations. In addition to just your everyday writing, I’ve done video work. All these things I’ve been able to do weren’t in my job description. It’s cool to be able to contribute in a way where people weren’t expecting that of you, but because I’ve had the previous experience, I knew what I was doing.”

Thinking back on his time at GCSU, Walters said if he had to do college again, there isn’t much he would change.

“I would just want to have more fun with everything and try more new things,” Walters said. “Also (I would) be more open to other classes that maybe I looked at in the beginning and was unsure if it was for me, but just being like, ‘Hey, I’ll try that,’ like video classes.”