The Power of Curiosity Fuels Award-Winning News Anchor Mary Calvi ’90

Mary Calvi’s early path to become an award-winning news reporter and anchor is a familiar one: Calvi ’90 fell in love with journalism at a young age, cultivated an intense curiosity and became determined to cover the news.

But it was that curiosity—combined with the confidence acquired through her broadcast journalism classes in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a big break provided by Sandy Montag ’85, president of The Montag Group—that helped Calvi realize her childhood dreams while remaining appreciative of the powerful impact of the alumni network.

“I feel indebted to Syracuse University and the incredible alumni connections and the powerful reach of this network of alumni. We’re all so open to connecting and sharing our advice and feedback with each other, and there’s a tremendous camaraderie among the alumni,” says Calvi, a 14-time New York Emmy-winning anchor on WCBS-TV in New York and anchor of “Inside Edition Weekend.”

Choosing Local News Over Cartoons

While her childhood friends were watching cartoons, Calvi vividly remembers being enthralled with the local newscasts. There was something powerful, captivating and mesmerizing about how the on-air reporters delivered the news to Calvi, who grew up in Yonkers, New York.

When she was in the ninth grade, Calvi first got her hands on a microphone and camera and started writing and producing her own newscasts for a small local community television station in her hometown.

“I was doing really local news, talking about the upcoming festival or what was happening in and around town that weekend, but I loved it,” Calvi says. “It was the power of curiosity. I was always curious about what was happening, but also what was the reason behind what was happening.”

While anyone who watches Calvi deliver the news today can’t help but see her as a natural, it wasn’t until she arrived at Syracuse University to study broadcast journalism that Calvi discovered the confidence she would need to launch her on-air career.

“There was no better journalism school in the country, and there was no other place I wanted to go. But just because I knew this was what I wanted to do from an early age, didn’t mean I actually thought I could do this. It really took me having the real support and encouragement from my Newhouse professors that allowed me to become confident that I could go out and do this for a living,” Calvi says.