Ava Rash

Hi! I’m Ava Rash, an anchor, reporter, emcee, and communication specialist.

        My Story

I am Ava Rash, a news anchor, on-camera reporter, emcee, broadcast and sports communications specialist currently based in Charleston, West Virginia.

In 2020, I proudly joined WCHS, which airs in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. Recognizing my confidence, spontaneity and ability to put interview subjects at ease on live television, my team at the station hired me as a morning news reporter. Almost immediately, I closely covered breaking news and the 2020 Presidential election. Following my success as a field reporter, I earned a promotion to fill in as the noon anchor and the morning anchor, and have anchored the evening news as well. I quickly learned the station’s traffic system and also fill in as traffic anchor. I won the 2023 West Virginia Broadcast Association Best Coverage of Breaking News for my reporting on swatting calls throughout the state. I still love field reporting on feature stories and special projects, which allow me to truly connect with the people I meet, and I am now also the long-term fill in anchor for both the morning and noon news shows. I am grateful to have so many opportunities to hone my on-camera skills, particularly during breaking news stories and feature reporting.

In my free time I enjoy one of my long-time passions, serving as the in-game host for Marshall University sporting events. I share my talents for communication through working on promotions, getting the crowd “pumped up” and talking to fans.

Education and Career

I hail from a large sports-loving family in Southwestern Pennsylvania. My dad coached youth athletics, and my brother played football. While not athletic myself, I found my passion for sports at a young age, and avidly followed the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins.  I also found my passion for broadcasting at an unusually young age by reading the announcements each day in middle school. High school found me pursuing courses in journalism and television broadcasting. 

After high school, I was accepted into the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University, where I graduated in 2020 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a Certificate from the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. During my university experience, I pursued every opportunity I could to develop my on-camera and reporting skills. Under the direction of such professors as Steve Kraycik and Brian Shoenfelt, I took on an ambitious course load. Additionally, I fulfilled several prominent roles. 

I served as a reporter, producer and social media content producer for The Centre County Report, a 24/7 news and multimedia production facility available to select students in the School of Broadcast Journalism. Next, I was able to combine my love of reporting with my love of sports as an on-camera student reporter for the Big Ten Network. There, I covered women’s basketball and sharpened my interview skills. At the same time, I was a marketing intern with Penn State Athletics for three years, where I was quickly tapped to become an in-game host for sporting events ranging from women’s basketball to men’s hockey. It was in this role that I once hosted an audience of 10,000 fans. Also, I was President of the University’s Society of Professional Journalists, and helped facilitate trips around the country to visit notable national news facilities. Finally, during a summer break from school, I interned at Station WTOL of Toledo, Ohio, providing on-air coverage of the LPGA Tour through interviews and other segments with players.  After graduation and during the brief pandemic period before WCHS recruited me, I kept my skills sharp through creating online sports showcases for high school teams with interviews and feature pieces.

I am a charismatic and passionate on-air presence. I am guided by the belief that everyone has a unique story that deserves to be heard. I enjoy sharing my talents for making interview subjects feel at ease, and especially love it when I am able to combine my passions for broadcasting and sports journalism. I look forward with excitement to future endeavors that will expand my experiences, knowledge and love of reporting.