Daniel Miller, a 1998 graduate of HPU, is an Emmy Award-winning journalist in Boston for Fox 25. He is featured on the cover of the new Winter 2016 magazine, headed to a mailbox near you. Miller’s essay below shows how he lives a life of success and significance both on and off camera — something High Point University prepared him to do.
By: Daniel Miller, 1998 alumnus
I wait for the cue of the red light each day.
When it turns on, so does my passion. It’s my time to tell stories of real people and bring them to life on TV screens.
On my journey as a journalist, I’ve found that every person has a story to share. And each one matters. Their lives, triumphs and tragedies all have purpose.
I know this because I get the emails, the phone calls and the Facebook messages after they air. Someone’s always watching. Someone’s always reacting.
Within the frame of the camera, I have the opportunity to demonstrate what it means to live a life of significance. To tell stories that inspire, inform and encourage others.
It’s a major responsibility, but High Point University taught me how to do it long before I stepped into a professional news studio.
Learning to Dream Big
I graduated from HPU 18 years ago, but I still feel the butterflies in my stomach from that summer day in May, walking across the stage.
It was a special moment; it was my ticket to start moving. It’s amazing to look back on my experience at HPU as I write this.
It was liberating and significant. I was elected Freshman Class President by my peers, but what I remember most were my weekly walks around campus as a University Ambassador, giving prospective students a glimpse of an institution I knew was changing me. The university pushed me to be extraordinary, even before that word became prevalently known across campus.
HPU also taught me a lot about who I am. It opened the door to service. It was there where I joined my fraternity and had the opportunity to study abroad in England. It was also the place where I developed friendships with people whom I remain close with today.
In October of 2010, I went back to campus to receive the university’s first Young Alumni Achievement Award during Alumni Weekend. I realized then how much had changed about campus and about me. I’ve come a long way spiritually and professionally.
Through these years of my life, I can now see and appreciate that learning in an environment where leadership and service are expected, and where lasting connections are made, prepared me for the road I’ve traveled.
Moving Forward with Faithful Courage
That road brought me here, to the seventh largest television market in the country where I serve as a weekday morning news anchor for WFXT, Boston’s Fox affiliated network. My position allows me to greet and meet people face-to-face and share their stories with the rest of the community.
It wasn’t a straight shot. My post college life and career has taken me from my hometown in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Indiana, Tennessee, back to Indiana and now Boston.
But I’ve always been able to find my way, thanks to God and my parents who continue to pray and believe that all things are possible for me. And I’ve been rewarded beyond measure for my work. The biggest honor of them all was winning my first Emmy Award (I honored my alma mater by donating it to the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication in 2010) for an assignment I turned around in less than 24 hours.
My life and my success are true testaments that God has a plan for each of us that is bigger and greater than the plan we could even dream for ourselves.
High Point University knows that. That’s why they tell you: Dream Big. Choose to Be Extraordinary. Live a Life of Success and Significance.
And I’m so glad they did and continue to do. It’s allowed me to give back in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Values-Based Living
I’ve interviewed a lot of people in this country. Some have been on top of the world. Some have just had their lives turned upside down.
Telling their meaningful stories has given my life meaning. Sharing their message has given me my own message. And it is simply this: Find your own red light — the thing that makes you say, “It’s show time.”
Be the anchor of your own show.
You may not spend your life in front of a camera, waiting for the red light to come on like me, but know that someone is always watching. While I don’t work 24 hours a day, I try to conduct every day of my life with this in mind. Always be the best version of you. If you choose to be extraordinary, you’ll not only be different — you’ll be significant.
And when the red light turns on, you’ll be ready.
View Miller’s essay and other stories in the Winter 2016 edition of the HPU Magazine: