ABC News’ Nightline Co-Anchor Byron Pitts Mentors Students as HPU Journalist in Residence
Byron Pitts, co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” and High Point University’s Journalist in Residence, led a Life Skills and Leadership Series session titled Resilience from the Frontlines during his visit to campus on Feb. 10. Dr. Bobby Hayes, chair and professor of the Practice of Journalism, asked Pitts questions about how challenges in his personal life and career built his resilience.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 19, 2025 – Byron Pitts, co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” and High Point University’s Journalist in Residence, led a Life Skills and Leadership Series session titled Resilience from the Frontlines during his visit to campus on Feb. 10.
Pitts participated in a Q&A with Dr. Bobby Hayes, chair and professor of the Practice of Journalism at HPU. Hayes asked Pitts to share how he built resilience through overcoming personal challenges and reporting the nation’s top news stories, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing.
“Every bad thing that’s happened to me has made my life better in some way,” he said. “I believe in physical health; I work out every day and was up this morning at 5. I believe in spiritual health; my wife and I did our devotionals this morning at 6 a.m., as we do every day. I believe in mental health; I talk to my therapist every Tuesday morning at 8:30. He told me something a few years ago that really helped me as a journalist. Often as journalists or as people, we ask someone, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ A better question to ask is: What happened to you? Who shaped the way that you are, for good or for bad?”
Pitts reminded students that journalists have choices about how they react to the facts through their feelings and beliefs. His goal is to seek the truth, be respectful and not give his opinion. As a person of faith who is optimistic by choice, Pitts said he counts it as joy when given the opportunity to cover news stories about individuals different than himself. When asked how he could handle witnessing 49 deaths, two executions and daily tragedies during his career, Pitts said he looks toward the first responders and helpers in those tragedies.
“I say this as a person of faith: I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future,” he said. “That’s what sustains me. In every bad situation I’ve been in – I’ve been to warzones, natural disasters and manmade disasters – there are always good people around the edges and so I look for that.”
Pitts provided career coaching, taught an introduction to reporting and an interview class, and shared lunch with students at the Nido Qubein School of Communication during his visit to campus. His Life Skills Seminar was the third session that allowed students to work toward earning a tuition-free certification in coachability. HPU students who attend four designated Access to Innovators sessions can earn a Life Skills certification and enhance their professional credentials.
What Students Learned
“I learned a lot about who he is as a person, but also with the stories that we tell to have purpose and intent behind the stories that we tell,” said Liana Conti, a sophomore media production major from Chicago. “And to constantly keep growing because when comfortable, you don’t grow.”
Hearing how Pitts built resilience through covering some of the nation’s worst disasters over the past 50 years resonated with Jacqueline Perry, a junior business administration and video game design major from Rochester, New York. She noted he advised students to be grateful for everything, including good health and having family and friends who love you.
“I know personally some minor thing can feel like the weight of the world, but he sees horrific things every single day,” Perry said. “He talked about the people he watched die, and that kind of pain is hard to imagine watching. He talked about intentionality above all else. Everything you’re doing you should be intentional about. You can intentionally fail or intentionally succeed.”
Heather Michael, a freshman exercise science major from Greensboro, North Carolina, said she learned about the importance of trusting her decisions and work ethic from Pitts.
“My biggest takeaway was to just have faith in your decisions,” Michael said. “You need to be hard-working to accomplish anything, and your hard work won’t go unnoticed.”