St. Cloud State University undergraduate student Savannah Reinke hails from Malta Bend, Missouri, a town of less than 200 people.
Most who grow up there never leave the area.
So how did she find her way 500 miles north to SCSU?
“I searched for best sports broadcasting schools, and St. Cloud State was on there,” Reinke said. “I came up for a recruiting visit for track and field, and when I walked into the television studios, my jaw dropped. I went to a lot of recruiting visits to broadcast schools, but the facilities at SCSU are amazing.”
And the best part? She could get involved right away.
“Other schools told me I wouldn’t be able to touch a camera until I was a junior,” Reinke said. “At SCSU, I was behind a camera by the second day.”
16-year-old broadcaster
Reinke remembers competing in writing competitions in grade school, and by the time she was a teenager she had also dabbled in public speaking.
When an internship opened up at her local radio station KMZU 100.7 as a sophomore, her agriculture teacher at Carrollton High School told her to apply. Despite no broadcast experience, she gave it a shot.
“I came in and did a voice test and wrote a story; the next day they offered me the job as the Saturday night news anchor,” Reinke said. “At 16 years old I was broadcasting to a statewide network.”
Five years later she still spends her summers back home, often broadcasting from local fairs and election polls or doing one-on-one interviews.
While she’s interviewed an Olympic softball player, the former governor of Missouri and key political figures in the state’s agriculture industry, those aren’t always where she finds the most impactful stories.
“The best stories can come from the people off to the side, who may just be leaning up against the barn,” Reinke said. “Every person has a story, you just have to ask them; most people are willing to talk. I want to find each person’s story. That’s what brought me into broadcasting, and I’ve realized there wasn’t anything else I could see myself doing.”
Husky Productions
At St. Cloud State, she gets to pair her passion for storytelling with her love of sports.
Reinke is majoring in journalism with minors in graphic design and marketing. She plans to graduate next spring before pursuing her master’s degree, while remaining in St. Cloud to compete for SCSU’s track and field team.
While injuries have hampered her first two years as a student-athlete, Reinke was named academic all-district as a javelin thrower this spring.
She also is involved with sports through the university’s television station UTVS, gaining experience immediately as a news anchor and camera operator while joining every production she could.
“Savannah is a student that keeps showing up, keeps trying and keeps believing in what she is set out to accomplish at SCSU,” said Derrick Silvestri, tv studio manager and UTVS advisor. “It is not necessarily about being perfect, it’s about growing a little every day.”
Reinke has played a key role with Husky Productions, the student run production that has appeared on Fox 9+ for SCSU’s Division I Men’s Hockey broadcasts.
The live production environment immediately hooked her, working as a graphics operator her first year before moving up to the role of producer last year. Balancing a crew of 24 members and trying to make every transition, replay and interview perfect is a unique challenge.
“We’re doing what professionals are doing; we want make every broadcast look like it’s not done by students,” Reinke said. “It’s an incredible experience … this will prepare me for when I leave SCSU.”
Reinke will return as producer this fall, with a “whole notebook full of things” she wants to accomplish and improve upon for 2025-26.
“I want to have a clean broadcast and be faster at everything,” she said. “Nearly every person is returning; we want to hit that next level.”
Scholarships and Future Plans
As her broadcast experience has grown, so have the list of awards and scholarship honors.
In 2025 Reinke has received the Presidents Scholarship from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Upper Midwest Emmy’s Beaurline Foundation Scholarship , the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association Jack Shelley Scholarship and the Missouri Broadcasting Association Scholarship.
“Her dedication, curiosity and determination have truly set her apart from other peers across the nation,” Silvestri said. “Winning these scholarships is no surprise, it’s a reflection of the excellence she brings to everything she does. I’m proud to have her part of our organization.”
“I’m thankful for the monetary aspect, but it’s also the broadcast connections that come with these scholarships,” Reinke added. “This summer I got to fly out to New Orleans and meet officials from CNN and FOX, and even the former editor of the New York Times. I never could’ve expected that three years ago.”
Reinke is only 20 years old, but she knows her future could go many directions.
It could include working in sports and live production, possibly for ESPN or a professional sports team.
She could go back to her roots and pursue agricultural journalism, telling the stories of the “hardest working people” and shining a light on their work.
Or it could even be working for National Geographic, having a love for nature she developed through her mom’s experience as a biology professor.
But no matter where she ends up, she’s thankful SCSU helped her get there.
“St. Cloud State sets you up in a position to talk to people for high-level stories,” Reinke said. “It’s just a fantastic program.”
