A Bell County High School junior turned a passion for photography and media into real-world career experience through Prosper Appalachia, gaining hands-on skills in broadcasting, social media, and graphic design while still in high school.
Prosper Appalachia is EKCEP’s youth-focused workforce initiative that helps high school students explore careers close to home through paid internships, work experience, and employer connections. For students like Elliott, the program provided more than work experience. It offered a first look at what it meant to work in a professional setting, build skills, and test out career interests before graduation.
After connecting with Taryn Mills, a Prosper Appalachia Career Development Specialist with Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency, Elliott explained that he had recently started his own photography business and was interested in creative work.
“I just opened up my own photography business,” Elliott said. “I’m interested in social media, graphic design, any of that.”
Mills helped connect him with an opportunity that matched those interests. Through Prosper Appalachia, Elliott gained paid experience tied to social media and school-based media production, including photography, sports broadcasting, and content creation.
His experience grew as Bell County’s school media broadcasting program got up and running. Through the program, he helped broadcast games and other school events, learning new technology and production skills along the way.
Before that experience, Elliott had never done broadcasting work. He had experience with his own camera, but the school’s broadcasting equipment and production process were new to him.
“I jumped right into it,” he said. “I went into it blindly. I was like, I don’t even know how to work this camera.”
Over time, Elliott learned how to use broadcasting equipment, audio connections, camera switching, production software, and other tools needed to get live broadcasts up and running. He also gained experience managing social media, creating graphics, and producing sports media content.
That hands-on learning helped Elliott build technical skills while also showing him how much opportunity existed in media and communications. Some of the broadcasts reached large audiences, giving him a clearer understanding of how important local media could be for families, schools, and communities.
“Those people want their sports,” he said. “These people want to watch what their child is doing.”
The experience also strengthened Elliott’s own photography and media business. He said the skills he learned through Prosper Appalachia helped him expand into areas such as senior banners, eighth-grade banners, media days, and sports content. Those skills also gave him more confidence as a young entrepreneur.
“I’ve been able to take those skills that I’ve learned through the Prosper grant and put them into my own business,” Elliott said.
While Elliott still plans to pursue the medical field and hopes to become a general surgeon, Prosper Appalachia helped him see how communications could remain part of his future. He said the skills he gained could one day help him manage media for his own clinic, work with hospitals on communications, or continue building his business alongside a medical career.
“I’m hoping that one day in the future, I can be a doctor, and also on the side, I will have all of my communications and publications, all that kind of stuff,” Elliott said. “I’ll still have all those skill sets that I can still use.”
Beyond the technical experience, Elliott said Prosper Appalachia helped him build connections throughout the community. Through the program and related opportunities, he met and worked with people who helped him better understand communications, business, and public-facing work.
Looking back on his experience, Elliott said he would encourage other students to take part in Prosper Appalachia, especially if they were interested in exploring a career field, building confidence, or stepping outside their comfort zone.
“Step into it, step out of your comfort zone, find what you like doing,” he said. “I think that I’ve been able to do that through the Prosper program.”
Prosper Appalachia is funded in part through support from the Kentucky General Assembly, but private donations help EKCEP expand critical work experience opportunities for students across Eastern Kentucky. To invest in the future of our region’s young people, donate directly at ekcep.org/donate.
EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. EKCEP is funded by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, along with various federal and state grants and private donations, and is a proud partner in the American Job Center network.