By Emma Rowland, Gaylord College Class of 2026
The Oklahoma City bombing was an event covered by multitudes of reporters. But out of all of them, Nolan Clay had a particularly vital role: he was writing for the victims.
Clay graduated from OU in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and earned his master’s from the University of Missouri in 1984. Clay immediately went into the field reporting for the Oklahoman beginning in 1985. He has provided Oklahomans with essential news for 39 years through his stories, but there was one pivotal story in particular that he would spend 10 years of his career reporting on.
“The day of April 19th my bosses told me and few other reporters not to go down there,” Clay said. “They told us we couldn’t have everybody go down there in case they capture the person who did this. Which was smart because as we know now, Timothy McVeigh was arrested that day.”
Clay spent the majority of that day making phone calls to find out where the trial would be held.
He spent 1996 traveling back and forth between Denver and Oklahoma City for the pre-trials. Clay lived in Denver from March of 1997 to mid-January of 1998, where he covered both Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols’ trials. He mentioned that because of the amount of coverage these trials were receiving, he became very close with the other reporters who also were living in Denver.
Clay returned to Oklahoma, where he would cover Timothy McVeigh’s execution in 2001 and Terry Nichols’ state trial in 2004.
“It had a ripple effect on journalism,” Clay said. “It was a deal where you don't think something like that could happen here, but it can.”
The people of Oklahoma relied on Clay for every detail of their information regarding the aftermath of the bombing. He served the community through the stories he provided in The Oklahoman.
“This represented a shift and a realization within the public and the media that we can have “home-grown terrorists,” Clay said. “You just have a realization that the unthinkable could happen.”
Joy Akande, like many other Gaylord College students, has taken initiative during her time so far at the University of Oklahoma. Joy is a current senior studying advertising and is a current co-team lead for Gaylord College Media’s marketing team. She also is a creative lead in Gaylord’s Lindsey + Asp, a student-led advertisement and public relations team that focuses on youth culture. Joy utilizes these organizations to express her love for creating content and showing others what it’s like to be a student at OU.
For many students, the path to higher education is linear. For others, it is winding. For Artra Nelson, a soon-to-be graduate of Gaylord College, this path included a stint in the Navy, a degree in political science, and a growing passion for public relations.
As graduation approaches, Aniketh Koneru, a senior Public Relations major, reflects on her Gaylord College experience. Her four years here have been shaped not only by the supportive community of peers and mentors but also the incredible opportunities that she took hold of. With the encouragement of others, Aniketh utilized the Student Experience Fund to elevate her voice to a national level.
Renteria is a junior majoring in public relations and minoring in Spanish and human relations, and is very involved on campus– she’s a resident advisor, a Henderson Scholar, in the President’s Community Scholars, in Crimson Club and will be a Gaylord ambassador this upcoming year. She has also received a slew of awards during her time at OU so far, including the Regents Award for Outstanding Juniors.
Congratulations to all of the Gaylord College students who made the Dean's Honor Roll for spring 2024. This is an outstanding accomplishment and recognizes a great deal of hard work. Best wishes as you move forward.
