It was the small-town feeling — the one that South Kitsap High School graduate Korina Kaio-Maddox was raised with — that resonated with her.

Similar to many natives of the area, Kaio-Maddox is aware of the festivals and outdoor activities that are Port Orchard staples. But after spending four years in Forest Grove, Ore., as a student at Pacific University, Kaio-Maddox wanted to learn more about the community.

And she accomplished that while earning college credits and résumé-building experience. Kaio-Maddox teamed with classmates Alexa Block and Molly Trotter to develop short news segments about outdoor recreation in the community as part of an independent study class taught by longtime broadcaster Grant McOmie.

The students’ work aired on KGW’s ‘Grant’s Getaways’ in late May. McOmie said the show was created a couple of years ago to show events around Oregon “that don’t get covered by local news anymore.” In the Puget Sound region, he compared it with KING-5’s “Evening Magazine.”

“The carrot I dangled in front of them was to produce something for our show,” McOmie said. “They were all exceptional. The standards were very high and they met them and in some cases exceeded them.”

All three students shadowed McOmie and led production of the clip. The only aspect of the project that the students did not directly work on was the filming, which KGW videographer and Pacific alum Jeff Kastner, led.

“They were doing hands-on stuff all the way,” McOmie said.

Kaio-Maddox focused on the city’s Forest Glen Trail, B Street Farm and the Fernhill Wetlands. McOmie said the segment lasted 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

“Grant’s whole philosophy is there are a lot of things you can do outside that people don’t know about,” Kaio-Maddox said.

The segment featured Block flying down a zip line at Tree-to-Tree Adventure Park, while Trotter focused on a whitewater kayaking trip by Pacific Outback, which is a university-sponsored program that gives students an opportunity to participate in outdoors programs.

“All three really nailed it with the photographer, which is a key in this business,” McOmie said.

Kaio-Maddox said the trio was instructed by McOmie to produce not only a high-quality segment, but one that provided “value to the viewer.”

He also hoped to bolster each student’s résumé.

“It was really important to me that this project culminated in something they can take with them,” McOmie said. “It had to have some real world tangible result.”

That already has culminated with a job for Trotter as a news reporter with KTVL in Medford, Ore. McOmie helped her land an interview for that position. He also hoped Kaio-Maddox, who initially decided to attend Pacific to play soccer and later served as the university newspaper’s sports editor, would interview for a production opening at that station, as well.

But Kaio-Maddox already had signed a contract to teach English in South Korea, a country she has never visited, beginning in late August. Similar to producing, Kaio-Maddox said it was a new opportunity she felt like exploring.

When she returns, Kaio-Maddox hopes to resume her media career.

“I learned a lot from the project including the process of putting together and producing a high quality segment for television broadcast,” she said. “I had a lot of experience writing for the print and not as much producing so this really helped me see what would need to be done for television and how different creating something for print and television was. I think the main thing I learned, though, was that producing was something I really enjoyed doing and wanted to pursue as a career in the future.”

Even though many media organizations have made significant cutbacks in recent years, McOmie said she should not have a problem finding a job.

“She’s going to be one of those rare people that has the ability to see the bigger picture,” he said. “It’s really her ambition that is going to drive it. I have no doubt about her.”