By Heather Clower
The Parsons Advocate
Another Tucker County native and TCHS alumni has accomplished great success during their venture towards a college degree. Kaylee Nedrow, daughter of Gary and Wendy Nedrow, graduated from TCHS in 2016 as class Salutatorian. She continued her passion and education in Performance Arts with a focus in theatre and with a theatre art minor at Liberty University School of Communication and Digital Content.
Recently, Nedrow completed a class assignment entitled “All About ASMR” (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) for a radio broadcast feature story. “We had to interview at least three people and one had to be an expert on the subject,” she explained. ASMR is described as a feeling of well-being combined with a tingling sensation in the scalp and down the back of the neck, as experienced by some people in response to a specific gentle stimulus, often a particular sound. It is triggered by things like whispering voices, paper tearing, and tapping, to name a few. “I wasn’t a fanatic fan, but I found it so interesting,” she said. “I was so curious as to why some people loved it and why some hated it.” Nedrow admitted she too is someone who experiences the “brain tingles” which further peaked her interest in the topic.
When it came to the production of the digital story, Nedrow was responsible for recording all of her own sound effects, interviews, and voice-over’s. She gave several examples from participants in her interviews about how they benefit from ASMR or just the opposite, find it more irritable. Nedrow even conducted a phone interview with Professor of Physiology at Shenandoah University and the founder of ASMRUniversity.com, Dr. Craig Richard as her expert on the topic. He offered the insight that people will soon not only be utilizing sites like YouTube to listen to these relaxing sounds, but they will begin experiencing them in the presence of another individual, such as light physical touch, for example, having your hair played with. Richards used the example of his mother lightly rubbing the inside of his arm when he was a child as her go-to method to get him to sleep easily. He recalled his brain instantly “turning to jelly” and falling asleep within moments during this ASMR practice. I am sure this is a tactic that most parents can relate to in this perspective.
Nedrow shared her recording secrets she utilized to compile this digital story to become the quality it is. “Actually, it’s funny because when I record my voiceovers, I just record in my closet. It’s the quietest room in my apartment and the clothes help absorb sound and cut down on the reverb and echo. It deadens the sound a bit. Since I don’t have a home studio and I can’t always record on campus, this is the next best thing.” Once she finished the assignment and turned it in, not only did she receive A for her project, but her professor, Dr. Chris Underation, chose the best ones to send in to the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) competition. Nedrow’s entry was one of hundreds of others with the same goal of being recognized for their work. At the conclusion of the judging period, Nedrow was selected as the first place winner of the Student News Competition in the Radio Feature Reporting Category. While there was an awards conference she and the other winners were invited to attend, she regretfully declined the trip to Vegas to ensure she stayed up to date on her college classes.
Nedrow will be graduating in May of 2020 from Liberty University. When asked about her post graduation goals, she responded, “I’m not sure yet. There are so many different jobs I could get with my degree and I enjoy all the different options.” She plans to do some freelance work after earning her degree along with applying to different radio and television networks. “But my goal is to do voiceovers, PSA, and promo work. I’d even love to do books on tape,” she added. “If I had a dream job, it would be a game show host.” Congratulations to Kaylee on your achievement and good luck on your future endeavors.
