Northwest Missouri State University/‘Ain’t no stoppin’ Kyriece Devine as she completes broadcast degree[노스웨스트미주리주립대학교]

As Kyriece DeVine approaches her graduation from Northwest Missouri State University this spring, she wanted to celebrate her achievement and announce it to family and friends in a way that exhibited her personality and abilities.

So she created a music video.

“I wanted to do a graduation announcement, but not a normal graduation announcement,” she said. “I wanted people to see what I’ve been doing for the past four years, and I’ve been singing since I was a kid.”

DeVine, who is completing her bachelor’s degree in broadcast production this spring, wrote and recorded a song she titled “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us” that chronicles her journey at Northwest. After coming up with the hook, it took her about 10 minutes to write the rest of the song.

This spring, she partnered with her friend and broadcast production classmate, Taylor Legrone, aka L.G., to make a music video that complements the song. It features DeVine recording her song in a Wells Hall studio, passing through the J.W. Jones Student Union, representing her sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, at Colden Pond and studying in a Wells Hall classroom with a cameo by Will Murphy, a TV and video engineer in the School of Communication and Mass Media. Watch the video by clicking here.

DeVine is the first in her family to earn a college degree, and the video is dedicated to her late aunt, who DeVine maintained as an inspiration to reaching that goal.

“It’s about this journey,” DeVine said. “It doesn’t matter how you start. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, just as long as you complete it. Now we’re meeting these goals, we’re getting ready to graduate and there’s no stopping us.”

There was a time when DeVine wasn’t so confident in her journey. Coming from a military family, DeVine has just moved to Kansas City when she enrolled at Northwest as a freshman, joining her older sister, Treynecia, who was attending the University at the time.

DeVine figured she would transfer to another school after her first year, but she soon found herself involved in several activities and enjoying her coursework enough that she didn’t want to leave Northwest.

When DeVine arrived on the campus, she had her sights set on a music career. Her work as a broadcasting major, however, helped her build additional skills and opened her eyes to far more opportunities in radio and production than she had imagined.

She worked as the music director of KZLX, Northwest’s student-operated FM station, last year. This year, she is working as the station’s program director and music director.

She is pursuing similar opportunities at larger radio operations to launch her professional career and plans to continue writing and recording music in her spare time.

This week, DeVine’s work made waves on Northwest social media channels again in a song and music video promoting the University’s B.D. Owens Library.

“If I hadn’t been at Northwest and taken radio practicum and fell in love with it, there’s no way I’d have this experience,” DeVine said. “Northwest also has made me come out of my comfort zone as far as networking.”