Texas Court Reporter Sworn in during Association’s First Virtual Zoom Annual State Convention

Mellony Ariail installed as President of the Texas Court Reporters Association

ATHENS, Tx., July 27, 2020 — Mellony Ariail of Corinth, Texas has been sworn in for a one-year term as President of the Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA).  TCRA is the leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, broadcast captioners, and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) captioners.  She will be leading the Board of Directors as they represent Texas Court Reporters from every part of the state.

Mellony is a Texas Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) and has worked as a court reporter for 32 years. She is currently the official court reporter for the Denton County Criminal Court Number 3.  Since obtaining certification following completion of court reporting school, Mellony’s well-rounded experience includes 15 years as an official court reporter, ten years as a freelance court reporter, and seven years providing captioning and CART services. She holds numerous advanced professional certifications obtained by both written and skills examination.

“I am humbled and honored to lead the Texas Court Reporters Association in its opportunities and challenges of the upcoming year.  TCRA is a mighty volunteer force of mostly unsung heroes from east to west and north to south; students and young reporters, retirees, officials, freelancers, singles, parents, a group diverse in many ways,” said Mellony.

“The President and all board members of the Texas Court Reporters Association are volunteers committed to ensuring that we live up to our mission statement by serving the court reporting community through education and advocacy,” says Brooke Ingram, Executive Director of TCRA. “Texas Court Reporters are required to pass one of the most challenging licensing exams in the nation in order to provide services in the legal arena, and many reporters go on to receive advanced certifications.   Our members are highly skilled and technologically advanced.”

Texas Court Reporters are licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas and must write a minimum of 225 words per minute with 95% accuracy to gain a license to work in the state of Texas.  Court reporters are also trained in the use of the latest technology to provide realtime reporting, which allows them to produce an immediate transcript of the spoken word by using a steno machine connected to a computer that instantly translates spoken word to text.

For more information about the Texas Court Reporters Association and a list of court reporting schools in Texas, visit www.tcra-online.com.   Career information about the court reporting profession — one of the leading career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree — can be found at https://www.ncra.org/discoversteno.

About TCRA

The Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA) was established in 1939 and is recognized for promoting excellence, maintaining high standards in court reporting in the state of Texas, and impacting legislative issues through its actively involved membership. Forbes has named court reporting as one of the best career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the court reporting field is expected to grow by 14 percent through the year 2020.  To obtain more statistical data on court reporting, contact the National Court Reporters Association or visit NCRA.org.

The Marlin Democrat

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