Please list significant events in your life:

Payton Marshall was the third graduating class from Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School. Marshall went on to graduate from Mount Notre Dame high school and during that time she completed a mission trip in Haiti working on disaster and humanitarian relief. A special part of this trip was the fact that Marshall worked with the Missionaries of Charity—a congregation of nuns dedicated to the poor, that was founded by Mother Teresa back in 1950. 

While in high school, Marshall cheered for Archbishop Moeller high school (GO BIG MOE!) and continued to cheer at the collegiate level while attending Wittenberg University. Marshall graduated from Wittenberg cum laude in 2017 and graduated magna cum laude in 2019 with her second degree at the University of Cincinnati.  

What are you doing now in your career? 

Payton Marshall is now the weekend morning anchor at FOX 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Marshall was just awarded first place in sports at the Press Club of Cleveland’s All Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards and also received two regional Emmy nominations for her reporting in 2022.  

How did MTCES prepare you for your future? 

Payton Marshall began her education at Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary school in the basement of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. As she graduated grade-by-grade, the school also graduated to a new building. She appreciated every inch of growth that the school bloomed into, because she was there for it all. No one appreciated the new spongy, blue basketball courts more than the cheerleader who could practice her toe-touches at new heights. 

She remembers her baby blue and indigo plaid skirt—a right of passage for the 6^th grade. Once in the 6^th grade, Mother Teresa students could wear the skirt that buttoned on the side of the waist instead of the plaid jumper. Marshall said money was tight, her parents could barely afford Mother Teresa so when it came to getting a skirt, she got a hand-me-down from an upperclassman. The skirt was far too big and far too long, it looked lumpy, but she didn’t mind because she still got to graduate to the skirt-level of life. Marshall never took her education at Mother Teresa for granted, her skirt reminded her to wear it proudly. Her parents gifted her an opportunity of education immersed with religion at the center of every day. Faith being at the core of her beginnings in her education, created a foundation that kept faith a priority in all of her future endeavors. 

 Marshall said the first people to recognize her as a writer were the teachers here at Mother Teresa. She reflected on a time in the fourth grade where she wrote a poem in her journal [not for an assignment, just for fun] and the teachers all passed it around and had her read it to the class. They believed in her, therefore she believed in herself. Marshall said she was placed in an academically-gifted class, which often made her feel less than when it came to her own intelligence. However, she hugged her writing and her teachers encouraged her pen, one teacher even submitted her writing for publishing. Little did she know that while at Mother Teresa, Marshall inked the beginnings of her future as a journalist. 

Marshall said in the eighth grade Mrs. Ocariz created an assignment where everyone had to write in a calendar for their future self.  The assignment made students think about what their day-to-day life responsibilities, careers and families would look like. Marshall loved this assignment because it gave her the freedom to dream big and reflect on the work it would entail on any given week to achieve those ambitions. It made dreams feel like realistic goals, a life worth accomplishing. 

What does she miss the most? The morning prayers with Sister Anne. “Bless them, bless them. Bless them in the morning, bless them in the noon time. Bless them, bless them, bless them till the sun comes down.”

Make sure to grab a cup of coffee and tune in to watch her anchor on Saturdays and Sundays on FOX 19 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.