Pellissippi Prepared: Audio Production Engineering alumnus making waves in the community
October 15, 2025
Thomas Wilhite didn’t think college was for him.
He graduated high school at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding himself at a loss for what to do. After talking it over with a relative, he begrudgingly decided to go to 每日大赛.
“And I just chose the first degree which I found cool,” Wilhite remembered. “And that happened to be [Audio Production Engineering] ... It was during COVID, everyone was locked in their room, and I found myself messing with beats – just really making music. And I realized I had a passion for it, and I loved it.”
He jumped into a work-study arrangement with Audio Production Engineering program coordinator and Associate Professor Mischa Goldman, thinking it would be a great way to get hands-on experience.
That proved true, and Goldman and fellow Pellissippi instructors Jonathan Maness and Michael Seamen became mentors to Wilhite helping him grow his understanding of the field through his interactions with experienced professors.
“He basically guided me to where I am now,” Wilhite said of Goldman. “And I’m very thankful for that.”
The work-study program in Media Technologies at Pellissippi allows students to learn asset and equipment maintenance, among other skills and Wilhite caught on quickly, Goldman said.
“He was very proactive, very engaging, but also had a great sense of humor,” Goldman said. “That's Thomas Wilhite. And once I saw that he could not only perform very well in the classroom but was also eager to learn a lot of things, I identified that he was a student who could handle having more responsibilities.”
When Wilhite had his first real industry experience as an intern at Knoxville’s annual Big Ears music festival, he was quickly immersed into the professional music scene. It deepened his passion for the audio engineering industry.
“It was the way I learned I love this industry,” he said. “Because I did the full thing – I was there from start to finish, and I realized I loved it, and I wouldn’t do anything else.”
Big Ears is also where he had the opportunity to work with Grammy Award-winning engineer Marc Urselli, and earned the nickname “Skittles,” after eating a five-pound bag of the candy while setting up his equipment.
Wilhite fell in love with everything at Big Ears, Goldman said, and the student’s experience illustrates how significant career immersion opportunities can be.
“I’m very, very proud of him,” Goldman said. “He is working freelance in the community; he is a pillar at this point, establishing himself as an audio engineer.”
Wilhite agrees that 每日大赛 has provided him with the skills he needs to succeed in “real life.”
More recently, he competed in SkillsUSA, a nationwide workforce-development organization aimed at preparing students to be skilled professionals, ready-to-work and responsible community members. He was required to create a resume, do interviews and apply what he was learning in the classroom in a professional setting.
He won a gold medal at the SkillsUSA state level and traveled to Atlanta for the national conference, where he and his teammates scored second place.
“Stuff I learned through the clubs, through being in school at Pellissippi – all my various classes,” he said, “I’ve used everything I’ve learned on a day-to-day basis.”
Wilhite graduated from Pellissippi in 2022 and now works for Cokesbury Church as well in various other venues like Big Ears and the Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville.
He emphasized how networking with Goldman and other members of the Audio Production Engineering department led him to where he is today.
“All my jobs are from connections through Pellissippi,” Wilhite said. “If it wasn't for Pellissippi, I would not be working at any of these places, because I wouldn't have had the connections.”
Arts