HALEY GROOMS

I have always been the girl to tell stories. Whether it is babbling off on a tangent about sports injuries or tackling a serious case like depression, I always have something to say. Not only is my voice in this big world important, but I want to speak for those who cannot. I want my voice and others heard in the world and I want to leave it a better place than when I found it, so I’m tackling my cause one word at a time.

 

For me, journalism was never in the cards before sophomore year. I was in need of an arts credit and it was either drawing fundamentals, or journalism. Considering I can only draw stick figures, I chose the latter. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would work my way up to being the Editor-in-Chief.

 

Without working up the latter of the newsroom, I would not be where I am today. I would not be planning to attend Michigan State University and majoring in journalism, nor would I want to intern for the Detroit Free Press. I found a new passion within something that I never gave a second thought. Journalism has impacted my life so much to the point where I find myself using it in routine actions. For instance, I start interviewing people when I think that they have an interesting backstory, or I will take pictures of events going on around me. Not to mention, I even started a journalism club at a local junior high school to educate and teach the upcoming generation about giving someone a voice.

 

In my junior year, I faced the worst year of my life. For the second time, I tore my ACL and in the midst of recovery, I acquired a parasite in my left eye. At one time, I lost my love for playing soccer due to my knee, and I lost my ability to see. I am legally blind in my right eye, so my left eye was my only way to use my sense of sight. I felt like my life was becoming a fairytale-like story that would end up on the front of a magazine. Weeks passed and each day seemed to drag on, but my love for journalism pulled me through. During this time, I sat down for days on end and just wrote. I wrote opinion articles, a personal narrative, feature stories, and even pushed as far as a sports story about soccer. Writing these articles helped me direct my attention to something positive in life rather than the negativity that was encompassing me.

 

I believe that every human being has a story to be told. Mine includes a whirlwind of struggles and a passion for writing about everyone else’s. I will devote myself to writing factual, hard-hitting stories that the public needs to hear. I will always be, and always want to be, the girl that tells stories.