When Miami native Tom Llamas was named “NBC Nightly News” anchor following the retirement of Lester Holt, one of the first phone calls he placed was to the rector/president of his high school alma mater.
Llamas then followed that up with a personal visit to the school last May for a “fireside chat” and meet and greet with the student body, according to Jesuit Father Guillermo García-Tuñón.
“Tom is very devoted to the school and engaged,” Father García-Tuñón said, himself an alumnus of Belen who is the 37th rector/president of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School since its inception in Cuba in 1854, and its seventh rector/president since its establishment in Miami following the Cuban Revolution.
“As soon as he found out he was named the successor to Lestor Holt and named the new chair of ‘NBC Nightly News,’ the first phone call he made was to Belen. He wanted me to know because he said ‘so much of what I am today is because of Belen,’ and I was very humbled to know that,” the priest said.
Llamas, born to Cuban immigrants who had fled the island as political refugees, attended Belen in Florida and Loyola University New Orleans in Louisiana, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and one in drama and speech.
He became the first Latino anchor of an American nightly news broadcast this year when last March he was officially named both “NBC Nightly News” anchor and managing editor, as well as anchor of “Top Story” on “NBC News NOW.”
Llamas said that his Catholic education not only set him on his career path in media but his faith life, which continues to be important to him personally.
“I’d say Belen really set me on my career path. It was a tough school academically, and it was also super competitive — in class, in sports, in clubs — you name it,” Llamas said in a July 2 email interview. “That environment pushed me to always do my best.”
“On top of that, Belen helped me grow in my faith. I got to learn about different religions, but I also really deepened my Catholic faith there,” Llamas told OSV News.
“We had a chapel right on campus, so it was easy to go to Mass every day. I give Belen a lot of credit for helping me build that strong connection with God, which is still a big part of my life today.”
Curiously, Fidel Castro himself was a high school graduate of Belen in Cuba but later confiscated all private and religious property there including the Belen school and expelled the Jesuits beginning in 1961, prompting them to reestablish the school in Miami.
When asked what advice Llamas has for young people today interested in a career in journalism, news or communications, he suggested young people consume as much news as they possibly can and stay engaged with civic affairs and public life.
“Read newspapers, follow digital news platforms, watch the evening broadcast, find a network or outlet you connect with,” Llamas said.
“Most importantly, stay curious. Curiosity drives you to dig deeper, to seek out answers, and to become an active learner.”
“If you’re pursuing a career in journalism, that hunger to learn, to explore and to understand the world around you is essential,” Llamas added.
During his high school years, Llamas was also deeply involved in Belen’s debate and drama programs and he participated in regional competitions which helped him hone his public speaking and communications skills, according to faculty there.
There is another element, Llamas said, which is important to journalists and to the man stepping into the shoes of news veteran Holt, who had served as anchor of “NBC Nightly News” since 2015 following Brian Williams’s early retirement: credibility.
“It’s all about continuing to build trust. I want viewers to know they can count on us — that I’m working for them and that our whole team is working for them.” Llamas said.
“Trust is where it starts, but it doesn’t stop there. We also want to be reliable, to show up every night, deliver consistently and bring viewers the very best of NBC News.”
Father García-Tuñón pointed out proudly that Belen counts among its alumni not only Llamas but also Cesar Conde, class of 1991 and who serves as chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, overseeing NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.
Conde accompanied Llamas on his May 1 visit to the Belen community. The students were captivated by the visit, the priest said, adding that they stood in line to greet him before taking him to the school’s media center for some hands-on pointers and advice from the heads of NBC News.
“Belen has a media center, a studio where we produce a new cast every day; the kids do the directing, producing, editing. (There’s) a film class, a journalism room, and they stream all the athletic events,” Father García-Tuñón said.
“Tom mentioned how significant … all his speech and debate club competitions were and which moved him in the direction of journalism, public speaking and anchoring,” he continued.
“And the second thing he mentioned was the school motto of ‘Men for Others,’ — getting into journalism because it was at the service of the nation and humanity and how important it is to be just, far and transparent,” the priest added.
English teacher Leo Williams, a 33-year-veteran educator at Belen, who recalls teaching theater and speech to “Tommy Llamas,” as he still refers to him, said that involvement with public speaking and competitive debating is a highly useful skill and one which requires on the job training.
Over the years Belen has garnered numerous trophies in debate competitions at the state level in Florida and during national competitions at places like at Harvard University.
Speech and debate competitions happen on Saturday mornings. When other students have been out all night on Friday, speech and debate students have to be ready at 8 a.m. and dressed professionally, Williams added.
“When we went to state competitions for either forensics or speech and debate, Tommy was always a winner as were others,” he said. “The way to become (an) expert at speaking is by doing it over and over and over again. My advice would be to get involved in speech and debate and theater.”
Tom Tracy writes for OSV News from Florida.
