Growing up with a sportscaster and former Chicago Bear for a dad and a sister with a love of being on camera, it was only natural that current English teacher Kristan Jiggetts would dream of falling into that line of work as well. Jiggetts always wanted to become a screenwriter, and she and her sister would practice making broadcasts growing up. From an early age, it was clear to tell that a career in media was in Jiggetts’ future. However, her journey through the real world of media led her in a completely different direction than anticipated, including production jobs at the shows Dr. Phil and Judge Jeanine Pirro.

Jiggetts studied creative writing and American studies in college, but since her school didn’t have a screen writing program, she attended graduate school at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. This took her away from screen writing and into the world of producing. She worked for Entertainment Tonight while still in graduate school, and her experience with shows like this completely changed her view of media and what she wanted to do with her life, leading her to the teaching job she now has at DHS.

“I would say it completely changed by view because I realized that everything is very calculated as far as decisions that are made,” Jiggetts said. “…it’s not necessarily about helping people, so it kind of jaded my view of that, but I think it’s also shown me how there is another side you could take advantage of.”

Growing up, Jiggetts looked up to her dad and what he had accomplished. She was used to seeing him on television and was exposed to the industry at a young age. However, she knew early on that the business was competitive and appearances mattered. Jiggetts didn’t want to be on camera like her family members; she wanted an opportunity to use her creativity and her love for writing. Instead of writing books, Jiggetts wanted to write movies. She would spend every weekend throughout high school at the movies and wrote her own screenplays, she turned into short films for graduate school. She was always more interested in this part of media than news reporting like her sister, but there are some commonalities.

“A constant is with us is that we have to have thick skin because it’s a tough industry and you have to fight to get ahead and get what you want,” Lauren Jiggetts, who works for NBC, said.

However, after a few years in the business, Jiggetts realized that media wasn’t used to help people as much as it was used to get ratings and put out a good story. Jiggetts realized it wasn’t for her and went back to graduate school for a teaching degree.
“As soon as I went to graduate school, I knew that this was what I really wanted to do and it’s funny because throughout all of that I can look at every job I had or every single thing I did and I was always really good at trying to help people with different things,” Jiggetts said.
Jiggetts teaches English and Media and Film Studies at DHS. Using the writing and communications skills she learned while in the media business, Jiggetts is able to connect to students and teach them about the importance of media and the value of the messages in everything we see.

“We watched a TV show from every decade up until now and it’s interesting to see how it changed, like family values used to be such a big part of TV shows and now its about stereotypes and media,” senior teacher Allegra Hoffman said of the Media and Film studies class.
Jiggetts places high priority on teaching students to think critically about media and why it matters in our everyday lives. She teaches students to realize the information given to them through media and to think about how to feel about it. When working for the show Dr. Phil, Jiggetts firsthand experienced how appearance affects media. Even when a person had the perfect story for the show, if they didn’t look right, they weren’t used. She tells her students about experiences like these in order to give them a better understanding of the truth behind media.

“I think the media plays an incredibly powerful role in all of our lives and I think that it’s only increasing that influence with all the different platforms that are available to people. I think it is absolutely critical that people understand different forms of media and understand what message you’re getting out of whatever it is,” Jiggetts said.