Gaston’s First Sports Media Technology Graduate
When Gastonia’s Chagan Friday first attended Gaston College in 2014, he wasn’t sure what he wanted for a career, and so he left school for 4 ½ years.
A few years ago, Friday noticed athletics was making a return to Gaston College, and along with that, the College was adding a new Sports Media Technology program. By the spring of 2024, the 29-year-old Friday set history after pursuing his interest in both of these areas,
“Yeah, it’s kind of a ‘Cinderella story,’” Friday said of his accomplishment as the school’s first Sports Media Technology graduate. “I got my life back on track and came to Gaston College and got my degree. Now I’m working full time and pursuing my dream in media. Opportunities are coming and I’m just chasing the dream.”
According to Gaston College instructor Caleb Stalcup, Friday’s future was obvious from the start of classes in the fall of 2022. “It took just a few days in class with him to see he was interested in our program,” said Stalcup, Gaston College’s Producer of the Sports Media Technology program. “I told the students this was a fun line of work, you can get paid and make some money and be around sports and events. And I explained my passion for it and he saw it and I think his passion for it really grew.”
By the 2022-23 Gaston College basketball season, Friday was a color commentator for a Rhinos’ basketball games, which are played at the Ashbrook High gymnasium. “I enjoy talking and announcing the most,” Friday said. “But I fell in love with being behind the camera. Really, I learned a little bit of everything – from producing to filming to mic presence to setup to breakdown to running cameras.”
Stalcup said he considered Friday his “Swiss Army Knife” because of his versatility to the school’s broadcasts of basketball, beach volleyball, baseball and softball games. It’s also the very reason Friday was able to make reports from the school’s first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association district softball tournament in Alexander City, Ala., in mid-May of 2023. “I was on the broadcast team when they (softball) went to Lexington, S.C.,” and won the Region 10 tournament, Friday said. “And so I went to the districts in Alabama with them and I ran a stream from down there. It was really exciting and fun.”
Through that work, he also gained the respect and trust of the Gaston College athletes, so much so that he helped several generate highlight tapes they could put on their social media feeds to aid with recruiting for their future. “He basically created his own style with player highlight tapes and, specifically, making them short and condensed so they could be used on social media,” Stalcup said. “He put out one-minute long highlights that bring energy with modern music and the players loved it.”
Later hired by Perfect Game Baseball because of his success with those videos, Friday continues to be active in his coverage of athletics. He remains proud of the historic distinction he holds in Gaston College history as the first graduate from the Sports Media Technology program. “It means everything to me,” Friday said. “It showed me I could do something. I could finish something and complete something. That, with determination, I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to doing.”
