‘WE COMPETE AND WIN EVERY YEAR’ McCallum Award Winner Focuses On Experiential Learning, Continuous Improvement
One of the defining moments of Chaz Maddi’s life was related to career choices. He was working a part-time sports reporting job that he enjoyed, but it wasn’t paying the bills. He looked at his checkbook, and knew he had to make a change. The balance was 39 cents. “That’s when I decided to take an additional part-time job as a camera operator, and it morphed into a full-time job,” he said. “I had to pay the bills.” And suffice it to say, Maddi has been paying the bills ever since. The accomplished communications instructor at Missouri Valley College, who serves as director of MVC- TV, is very successful teaching his students how to run a TV broadcast, and eventually pay their own bills. He focuses on continuous improvement…and jobs. “I’m an effort kind of guy,” he said. “You have to get better assignment by assignment. Week by week. Semester by semester. Look at what you did last time around, and make it better.” Maddi is most proud when his former students become employed. “What we do here ‘works’” Maddi said. “The evidence is when they get jobs.” Maddi’s continued success in the classroom is no secret. He was just recognized by the college as the 2024 recipient of the John McCallum Award for Excellence in Teaching. Maddi says he is humbled by the award, particularly when he considers some of the Missouri Valley legends who have received it.
“Larry Stockman (2007), Ed Leslie (1993), Loren Gruber (2005)...They were stars.,” he said. “They were institutional icons and very instrumental when I first arrived here (2005). I’m just a guy who tells stories.” Maddi’s excellence shows up in the students’ finished product. Each year, Valley competes in the Missouri Broadcaster Educators Association awards competition. MVC takes on bigger school and larger staffs, and always seems to secure a large share of awards hardware. “We compete and win every year,” he said. “We’ve had as high as 12 awards in one year, and we always seem to win just about every sports streaming award there is.” Maddi says he has a simple philosophy in the classroom. “My goal is simple,” he said. “I want to give the students information so they can get jobs. It’s really experiential learning. We give them hands-on experience in broadcast media.” Maddi’s career started in mid-Missouri with a bachelor’s degree, and it has taken him to numerous cities, and he’s done just about every job in television production you could imagine. He’s done camera work. He’s done graphics. He’s excellent at switching, and directing. And he’s managed his share of live broadcast trucks. “Each job I’ve had along the way has been uniquely different,” Maddi said. His current job at Missouri Valley College, which he’s held since 2012, is also uniquely different. But it’s also the most satisfying, because the students that he trains so well tend to become broadcast professionals, allowing him to continue telling their stories to the latest generation of Vikings.
24 Viking Views | 2025
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