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NBC Connecticut morning co-anchors Heidi Voight, '10, and Ted Koppy

[Update: Heidi Voight, ’10, was interviewed in March, when she was pregnant with twin girls. On May 13 — Mother’s Day — the “twincesses” arrived six weeks early. Apolonia “Polly” Rose was born at 8:47 a.m., weighing 3 pounds, 11 ounces, and measuring 16.5 inches. Sister Violet Concetta arrived at 8:48 a.m., weighing 3 pounds, 10.4 ounces, and measuring 17 inches. After being cared for at Connecticut Children’s NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) at UConn Health, Violet was discharged first on June 22. On June 27, the girls were reunited at home with their parents.]

It was a trial by fire for up-and-coming journalist Heidi Voight, ’10. “My very first live shot on air was as breaking as it gets — just minutes after a deadly EF3 tornado tore through Springfield, Mass.,” says Voight, who was working as a photographer, shooting video in the south end of the city when the twister struck on June 1, 2011. With trees downed, buildings crumbled, and roads blocked, the main anchor couldn’t make it to the scene. “Suddenly, the live truck operator grabbed my camera from my hands, switched it out for a microphone, and told me, `Stand by. You’re going to be live on the air in 10 seconds,’” she recalls.

Voight’s report — and her one-year update on the storm — won Emmy Awards. She soon signed an on-air contract and, today, is the morning anchor for NBC Connecticut with a loyal following.

“I was the first in my immediate family to attend and finish college,” says Voight, who worked full-time while majoring in theatre at Southern. In 2006, while studying at Southern, she represented the state as Miss Connecticut. She also was recognized regionally and nationally as the recipient of the prestigious National Critics Institute Scholarship through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

“I worked with some of the nation’s most respected journalists at the Kennedy Center and at the Eugene O’Neill American Theatre Conference as a Critic Fellow in 2004, which cemented my career path,” she says. “That door only opened for me because one professor, Sheila Garvey, [Department of Theatre], took notice of my interest in writing and encouraged me to enter a competition I otherwise would never have known about.”

Voight, who is celebrating her fourth anniversary with NBC Connecticut, says she’s grateful for personal blessings as well. She’s recently married, is a new home owner, and, is expecting twin girls in June. Following she talks about her journey from Southern to the NBC news desk.

You were named the NBC Connecticut Today morning anchor in June 2016. Was becoming a news anchor a long-term goal?
Yes! Growing up in Milford, Conn., I watched local news anchors like Joanne Nesti, Janet Peckinpaugh, Diane Smith, and Ann Nyberg, and dreamed of becoming like them someday. I always had a passion for storytelling and writing. When I was still in elementary school, our school librarian, Mrs. Williams, nicknamed me “reporter lady” because I was always there researching and writing book reports, always clutching my notebook. So I can truly say I’m living my dream today as a journalist.

What’s the best part of the job? What’s most challenging?
The best part of the job is being able to shine a light on the good that is happening in the world and here in my home state. I am a believer that journalism can and should make the world a better place. The most challenging part is not losing heart when we have to cover all the bad things that happen in between those bright spots. There are some stories that haunt me. There have been some difficult moments. But I always say: the day you stop feeling human emotions in response to the tough stories is the day you need to hang it up. Never lose your empathy. The journalists I most admire, like Steve Hartman, Lester Holt, and Savannah Guthrie, are not afraid to be real [when] relating to others.

Looking back, are there stories you worked on that stand out as pivotal to your career?
My career started with a bang: My very first live shot on air was as breaking as it gets — just minutes after a deadly EF3 tornado tore through Springfield, Mass. I was in the devastated south end of the city, roaming around with my camera shooting video as a photographer. Because of all the downed trees and crumbling buildings, many roads were blocked off and our main anchor couldn’t race to the scene in time for her live shot. Suddenly, the live truck operator grabbed my camera from my hands, switched it out for a microphone, and told me, “Stand by. You’re going to be live on the air in 10 seconds.”

Wait. What?! And just like that, I was reporting live on the air for the first time. I wasn’t dressed for TV. I didn’t have a script. I didn’t even have time to collect my thoughts. I just said what I was seeing and hearing. I grabbed a man off the sidewalk and interviewed him live. He had hidden under a table when the windows in his apartment blew out. He said he felt lucky to be alive. That was truly the first day of the rest of my career. . . . I ended up signing an on-air contract shortly after. Our team coverage that day — and [our coverage] on the one year anniversary — won Emmy awards. Talk about baptism by fire!

What are some of the stories that your most proud of?
More recently, I was very proud to be recognized with six awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists for my reporting on a range of issues — including a series profiling fallen law enforcement officers, and an investigation into state and federal funding of Connecticut’s highway service patrol fleet.

I’m proud of stories that get results for our viewers and hold leaders accountable. And I’m proud of stories that delve deep into the human experience. I was the only TV reporter besides the Today Show’s Matt Lauer to exclusively interview Madonna Badger, the woman who lost her three beautiful children and both parents in a 2011 Christmas day fire in Stamford. Earning her trust and having the privilege of telling her unimaginable story of grief and healing was profoundly humbling. Source from the livecasinosites.com live dealer casino websites.


What five adjectives describe you as a journalist?
Relentless. Competitive. Connected. Empathetic. Engaged.

Your on-air bio describes you as a “proud graduate of Southern Connecticut State University.” Tell us a bit about that pride. How did Southern help to prepare you for your career?
What really stands out in my mind is the sense of community I felt at Southern. I really felt like my professors took a vested interest in my success, not just as a student but as a person. I arrived at SCSU during a tumultuous time in my life. I needed support and direction, and I got it from so many special people on campus, from my professors to the staff at Student Affairs, the Women’s Center [now known as VPAS, the Violence Prevention, Victim Advocacy, and Support Center], and other departments. I still keep in touch with many of my professors to this day.

I was the first in my immediate family to attend and finish college. It took me a little longer than most, as I worked full-time all through college to support myself. I also took a nontraditional path into the journalism field as a theatre major, but at Southern I was always encouraged to explore my intellectual curiosities like journalism and philosophy, and taking those classes opened up new opportunities for me. I believe that multidisciplinary education made me a more well-rounded journalist.

“My second family,” says Voight,’10, of the NBC Connecticut morning team. Pictured at her wedding are [from left]: meteorologist Bob Maxon (he officiated), Voight, Ted Koppy, co-anchor, and Hanna Mordoh, traffic reporter.

Last but not least, we saw the emotional on-air announcement that you and husband, David, are expecting twins. Congratulations! What’s it like to share this journey with your viewers and fellow news team?
Thank you so much! I am expecting identical twin girls in late May/early June. (June 8 if we go full term but twins often like to make their grand entrance early!) I am so overwhelmed by all the kindness and support shown to me by our viewers and my colleagues. I’m coming up on my fourth anniversary here at NBC Connecticut, and it blows my mind to look back on how much my life has changed since I first walked through these doors. In that time, I’ve worked my way up to the anchor desk full-time, I’ve gotten engaged and married, am starting my own family, and becoming a first-time homeowner.

These are all the things I only dreamed of back when I was waiting tables full-time and riding my bike or the city bus to class at SCSU so many years ago. Now there are billboards for our morning team on those same city buses. It’s crazy. I am so grateful and I don’t take a second of it for granted. It’s all proof that if you work hard, let yourself be helped by your supportive SCSU community, and relentlessly pursue every opportunity made available to you, you WILL find your purpose and you CAN live your dream. GO OWLS!

Voight, who is expecting twins, poses with the news team’s “Snow Monster” weather vehicle and her two “snow babies.” In, perhaps, one of the most epic gender reveals in NBC history, Today anchors, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, paused in their reporting from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, to share that Voight and husband, David, are expecting girls.

Facey: (adjective) When someone’s face can be seen everywhere. — Urban Dictionary, top definition Jason Facey, ’14: choreographer, actor, motivational speaker, and dancer who toured nationally with Gwen Stefani. (See above.)

Photo by Anya Chibis

It’s the last Wednesday in May, and Jason Facey, ’14, is flying out of Los Angeles to dance with Gwen Stefani — one of several pop star royalty headlining at Wal-Mart Stores’ infamous annual shareholder meeting. As far as hump days go, Facey is having a good one, and his week will only get better. On June 2, more than 14,000 shareholders and guests will pack the Bud Walton Arena to cheer on Blake Shelton, Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, The Band Perry, and Stefani — the latter joined on stage by Facey, a lead dancer on her 2016 North American tour. “What kind of life is this! Performing for thousands,” says Facey, a quick laugh punctuating his Jamaican accent.

His star is clearly on the rise. Soon after graduating from Southern with a degree in communication and a minor in theatre, Facey came to LA for an internship with the Hallmark Channel arranged by the university’s Department of Communication. Since then his career has unfolded like the plot of a feel-good movie. It’s a musical, one that begins in a small home in Saint Mary, Jamaica, where Facey was born in 1989. He elaborates: “I was born inside of that house not in a hospital. The entire house is about the same size as two dorm rooms put together. My whole family lived there.”

Facey found his passion for performing at an early age. A DJ was playing at a community gathering, and the then 4-year-old talent was dancing his heart out. Gradually everyone stopped to watch. “I remember thinking, ‘This is all right!’” he says, before turning serious. “Music and dance were our escape in Jamaica. It took us away from the poverty we were facing.”

Facey came to the U.S. at the age of 11 with his older brother, joining family in Hartford.  “It wasn’t difficult, but then again it was,” he says, recalling efforts to downplay his Jamaican roots. He was held back twice in fifth grade while learning English, but took the momentary set back in stride. “If that hadn’t happened, I would not be where I am today,” says Facey, who opted to attend Hartford’s Classical Magnet school. The challenging college-prep curriculum focuses on the classics and liberal arts in the middle grades and high school — and includes an award-winning theater program.

Jason Facey, '14, hit the road with Gwen Stefani's national tour and has worked with Alicia Keys, WizKid, Major Lazer, and Pharell.
Jason Facey, ’14, hit the road with Gwen Stefani’s national tour (above) and has worked with Alicia Keys, WizKid, Major Lazer, and Pharell. That’s Facey with country star Blake Shelton at the far right. Photos: Anya Chibis and supplied by Facey

At Classical Magnet, Facey caught the attention of then eighth grade teacher Marydell Merrill, M.S. ’08, who encouraged him to try out for the school production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” “I tried out because of her, but only for the smallest role —  about five lines,” says Facey, who has a speech impediment — a stutter. He got the role and Merrill also named him the understudy for the lead. When said lead was later kicked out of the production, Facey rose to the occasion. “On the day of the show, I figured it out. I don’t stutter at all when I act,” he says.

Soon after he landed the first of numerous roles in Hartford Stage’s summer productions of Breakdancing Shakespeare, which combine the Bard of Avon’s works with breakdancing and hip-hop.

Facey applied to Southern at the suggestion of his high school soccer coach, whose brother had attended the university. At Southern, he joined the Crescent Players and continued acting, his first role playing Cassius in “Othello.”

Still something was lacking. “I was used to dancing every day, whether at a party or for Hartford Stage. I didn’t know dancing was a career choice, but I knew I missed it,” he says. In 2009, he teamed up with three other Southern students —Isaiah Lyte, ’11, Jesse Kroll, ’14, and Muonia Wiley —  to start the university’s Symphonic Pulse Dance Company (SPDC). The group, which blends different genres of dance including hip-hop and street-style, is still going strong today.

Facey’s internship with the Hallmark Channel was another college highpoint. “It showed me a whole new world. I learned what goes into making a movie — and I learned that acting is what I want to do,” he says.

He stayed in Los Angeles when the internship ended, and was working at a city call center when he had an epiphany. “I remember thinking, ‘What am I doing here. I have a college degree and I have talent.’” He drew up a list of goals: Get acting and dance agents; work as a motivational speaker; and build the ‘So Facey’ brand, playing off his surname.

“I see Facey as standing for ‘Faithfully Accomplishing Challenges Every Year,’” he explains.

He also kept dancing, letting off steam at Federal Bar, a North Hollywood club that holds throw-back Thursday dance nights. Facey doesn’t drink or smoke. He does, however, “dance like crazy,” and at the urging of a club friend decided to try out for a video. Then fate stepped in. “The choreographer at the audition was Fatima. The. Legendary. Fatima. She has worked with everyone,” says Facey of the famed artist who has collaborated with Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, the Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Prince, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and others.

Fatima, named one of Entertainment Weekly’s “100 Most Creative People in Entertainment,” saw something in Facey, and gave him and the two friends he auditioned with roles in Pharrell Williams’ ”Freedom” video. It was Facey’s big break. He was signed to a major agency; performed at the BET [Black Entertainment Television] Awards and the Video Music Awards; and booked a commercial for Comcast Xfinity.

Jason Facey, '14, dancing on the street in LA

Then Gwen Stefani entered the picture. Facey was signed as a lead dancer in her “Misery” video, and went on to tour nationally with the star, traveling across the U.S. and Canada from July through November 2016. He continues to perform with her as needed and has nothing but praise for his experience on the road with Stefani: “She’s an artist in the truest sense — awesome and adorable. She’s very talented but also very down to earth. She has spent years working incredibly hard to be standing in the light she’s in today,” he says.

Facey’s own light is shining brightly. In addition to dancing, he hopes to break into acting. “I’ve used skills gained at Southern in video production to promote myself,” he says of a series of short comic skits he’s produced. “I’ve had about 12 go over a million views,” he says of the videos, many of which play on his Jamaican roots and dance talents. [Be warned, some are racy and include explicit language.]

He’s also moved on to motivational speaking, incorporating dance in his presentations. “I love the idea of being able to inspire somebody the way that I was inspired . . . to do what Ms. Merrill did for me,” he says of his former theater teacher.

Facey has reached another milestone, appearing in a national advertisement for Old Navy. In the spot, a traffic light is the site of an impromptu dance party. Facey kicks off the action, launching himself off the front of a car in to the street.

Meanwhile, he continues to dance. In addition to teaching classes, he is studying dance — something the self-taught performer hadn’t done before coming to LA. And while nothing thrills like booking a performance with the likes of Alicia Keys, WizKid, and Major Lazer, he says he’ll always dance for the joy of it. “I still love it,” he says of hitting the club. “It is the only thing I can control 100 percent . . . where no one can tell me what to do. I was always a freestyler.”

Cover graphic for Southern Alumni Magazine, Fall 2017 issue

Owl pride is running sky high thanks to a growing list of accomplishments that position Southern among the best. Here are some of the university’s many exciting achievements and initiatives.

Owl Pride graphic with Otis and banner

* Southern’s student-faculty ratio is 14:1, tied for the lowest among public universities in the state.

* Students receive free supplemental instruction, tutoring and academic success coaching in topics such as time management and study strategies at Southern’s Academic Success Center. There were 30,000 visits in 2016-17.

* 150-plus student clubs and organizations offer a wealth of opportunity. These clubs host more than 3,000 events annually. In fall 2017, 3,584 students were club members.

* An innovative trans-Atlantic partnership between Southern and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) offers research internships, study abroad opportunities, faculty exchanges, and soon, the first programs in a portfolio of joint master’s degrees. First on the agenda are an M.S. in coastal resilience and an International MBA. With these, SCSU and LJMU will be the only American/Anglo universities offering more than one joint master’s program.

* Southern was one of only five colleges and universities to receive the “Excellence in Assessment” designation in 2017. The designation recognizes institutions of higher learning that best proactively use assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education.

* Beginning with the Class of 2020, all first-year students accepted into the Honors College receive a merit-based scholarship covering one-half to full in-state tuition.

*Student retention rates in Southern’s Honors College historically have been well-above 90 percent — in step with many of the most-selective private institutions of higher education.

* Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification was awarded to two campus buildings: the new science building and the home for the School of Business. The certification recognizes construction and design meeting exceptional ecological standards.

* Southern is home to the CSCU** Center for Nanotechnology, the only system-wide center for the field in the state.

* Also housed at Southern, the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies is the only CSCU** center dedicated to faculty-mentored student research that addresses environmental issues along the Connecticut shoreline and Long Island Sound.

* Southern’s campus will soon be home to the Barack H. Obama Magnet University School through a partnership with the city of New Haven and its school system. A true win-win initiative, it will provide in-classroom teacher training for education majors and an exceptional learning environment for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

* In 2016, Southern partnered with CARE (the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement), which was founded at Yale University. In the following three years, CARE has been transitioning from Yale to SCSU’s campus — with Southern becoming responsible for CARE’s community engagement work. Yale will continue to manage and finance CARE’s research agenda while gradually shifting that work to Southern.

* Alumna Jahana Hayes, ’05 was the 2016 National Teacher of the Year. Southern graduates also swept many of the state’s top teaching awards for 2016, earning honors as Connecticut’s “Best of the Year” in the superintendent, teacher, school counselor, and many other categories. Most recently, alumnus Dan Kahl was named the state’s “Adaptive Physical Education Teacher of the Year.”

* Computer science majors Michael Solati and Robert Crowdis won first place at the 2017 College Tech Challenge — standing out among many of the state’s top engineering and programming students. The duo won a $5,000 prize.

* In the past four years, 98-plus percent of students in Southern’s accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program passed the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination) the first time — among the best records in the state. (State of Connecticut Department of Public Health, May 2018)

* A Southern team was a semi-finalist in the 2017 American Marketing Association’s Collegiate Case Competition. Southern was the only institution of higher learning in Connecticut to score among the semi-finalists and finalists — and joined Providence College as one of only two in all of New England.

* Sandra Gomez-Aceves, ’17, beat out nearly 500 applicants to win one of only twelve coveted spots at the 2017 ProPublica Data Institute, a seminar for journalists and journalism students. Gomez-Aceves was one of only three of the latter chosen by the Pulitzer Prize-winning organization to participate. The invitation covered all tuition costs.

* There are 11,000 student members in the American Marketing Association (AMA), and recent graduate Julia Rotella,’17, was one of the best, finishing second in the organization’s 2017 “Student Marketer of the Year” competition.

* Southern is an NCAA Division II athletics powerhouse. The Owls rank among the top 10 nationally with 80 individual titles and in team championships with 10 titles.

* In fall 2016, Southern’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists was named the “Outstanding Campus Chapter” for region 1, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

* Two Southern graduates were among a total of only 10 librarians chosen from throughout the U.S. to receive the 2016 “I Love My Librarian Award,” sponsored by the American Library Association.

* Southern previously was recognized at the White House Summit on Computer Science for All.

* In November 2018, Southern celebrated its second annual Social Justice Month with almost 100 events, all designed to further social justice education and awareness on campus.

* Southern is the first breast-feeding friendly campus in the state and the nation. — Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition

* Southern will provide residential leadership scholarships that cover housing expenses for 10 incoming New Haven Promise Scholars beginning next fall. The selected students — known as Promise Community Ambassadors — will mentor Southern’s New Haven Promise Scholars and city high school students. As of December 2017, Southern has had more New Haven Promise Scholars (339) than any other university.

* Sierra Magazine and the Princeton Review have repeatedly cited Southern among America’s greenest universities.

* Since being installed on campus, refillable water bottle stations have been more than 1 million times. That’s a lot of plastic kept out of landfills.

* More than 3,000 solar panels were installed on campus through a renewable energy program expected to generate over a million kilowatt hours of electricity annually — with no capital investment or upfront costs to Connecticut tax payers.

* By May 2018, Southern’s award-winning Food Recovery Project had collected 33,677 pounds of nutritious, unspoiled and unserved food from the dining hall and other campus dining establishments. The equivalent of 27,500 meals were then delivered to area food pantries and soup kitchens. Over the years, more than 50 student interns from Southern’s Office of Sustainability have helped drive the program.

* Southern’s organic garden produced 1,500-plus pounds of food from 2016 – spring 2018 — a bounty shared with area soup kitchens and local families through the Community Garden Nutrition Program, a partnership with CARE (Community Alliance of Research and Engagement) and New Haven Farms.

* Southern sends organic waste, including food scraps, to Quantum Biopower in Southington, Conn., where it is converted into energy, soil-based fertilizer, and compost.

* The university has been building communities and empowering lives for almost 125 years. Get ready to celebrate Southern’s anniversary in 2018!

**Connecticut State Colleges and Universities

Cover graphic for Southern Alumni Magazine, Fall 2017 issue

© 2016 Southern Connecticut State University.