Tyson Compton, a native of Louisa, Ky., has served as president of the Cabell-Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau since February 2009. Compton came to Huntington from the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, where he was marketing director for 14 years. Prior to that, he was marketing director for a magazine publishing group in Los Angeles. Compton serves on the boards of Leadership Tri-State, the Southeast Tourism Society, Boyd County Foundation for Children, Youth Leadership and Clear Channel Radio Local Advisory Board. He is also a member of Huntington Rotary and is actively involved with Create Huntington. He is a graduate of Community Leadership Development, a member of ACTC/OU Diversity Committee and a member of the Country Music Highway Action Team.

What was the fourth episode’s theme?
In the fourth episode, I felt that Jamie was now casting a wide net to really pull in as many community members as possible and get them behind the Revolution. Acceptance, or at least understanding, from Rod was also crucial to the overall program.

How were Huntington/ the school system portrayed?
Overall I thought Huntington really took a step forward. I’m glad that Rod’s feelings shifted because his attitude was really beginning to wear on me. But of course that conflict makes great television and he played the perfect foil to Jamie and his call for change. But the positive response and attitude from so many levels of the community was great to see. The Marshall University students creating the flash mob was awesome.

Any progress made?
Having Jamie meet his goal of teaching 1,000 folks to cook a healthy meal was huge. This showed that the people of Huntington were listening, and that we were finally able to put aside our fear of this “outsider” and his agenda and get behind the Revolution – for ourselves, our family, our community.

I really enjoyed this episode, in large part due to the many different segments of the community that were involved. We saw Mayor Wolfe participating and we heard from Governor Manchin that he was behind the drive for healthier diets. This was a another great step forward. And how cool was it to see Alice show up for a class? I can’t help but enjoy her feisty attitude.

Also, I’m hearing from friends across the country and overwhelmingly they like the show. All of them with children have commented on how this has made them aware of what their kids are eating at school and that they plan to be more active in that regard. One friend mentioned how it inspired her to teach her sons about vegetables and that now they do their grocery shopping together. Many others have commented on how they hadn’t really thought about the large amount of processed foods that they consume and they plan to improve that.

Jamie’s desire to help people is working.