I just want to keep learning.

— Simon Kinberg.

Wow. Where do I start. First off, I will admit that I hate talking about myself. I am not sure why, but I always have struggled with the whole “tell the class three things about yourself” or “name your best and worst qualities” thing. I find myself to be an extremely complex person with many interests and skills in a variety of (mostly random and unrelated) areas.

I was born on October 19, 1996 in Key West, FL. I am proud to be a “Conch” and my mom’s side of the family has lived on the Southernmost Point for generations. From the time I was two months old, my family and I would spend two weeks in December in Ashe County, N.C. at our vacation home in Todd. Even though I was initially devastated and thought my life was over when I had to move to Ashe at the beginning of my fourth grade year, I was at least familiar with the area. People still ask me why I would ever leave Key West, I always remind them that I was only nine years old and didn’t really have a choice when my family decided they were sick of hurricane season and we headed to the mountains.

They say Libras are extremely indecisive and I can definitely attest to that. From the time I was in middle school to the day I graduated high school, I changed my “dream job” approximately twenty times. That is not an exaggeration. You name it, I probably wanted to do it at some point in my life. I was dead-set on being a high school English teacher for two years, then I wanted to be a forensic anthropologist my freshman year of high school when all I watched was “Bones” on TV. For a few months I wanted to be a paralegal and when we went to Washington, D.C. my senior year I could hardly contain my excitement when we toured the Supreme Court. So why did I finally settle on Journalism? Well, it was always in the back of my mind. I have always loved the written word, I was the kid who in third grade read at a 12th grade reading level. By the time I moved to NC and was checking out books from the media center at my elementary school, I was encouraged to check out college-level books. I joined the school newspaper staff in 5th grade and we met twice a week after school. There were about forty of us and I don’t remember much aside from “folding parties” where we folded all of the newspapers by hand and ate pizza. My sixth grade year myself and two others, out of a group of about thirty, were awarded service awards which were engraved rectangular plaques. I still have mine to this day. Once I was in middle school, I applied for the yearbook staff. I was disappointed when I wasn’t selected, but decided the join the journalism class which produced the school newspaper. There were about twenty of us and we each wrote an average of two articles per week. I enjoyed the experience and decided to do it again in 8th grade and was selected by our teacher, along with a professor in the Journalism department at Appalachian to be the editor. I felt honored and took my role very seriously, often writing articles that others failed to write along with my own. In high school I continued to be on the yearbook staff each year and was one of the editors my senior year.

Although, at times I felt journalism wasn’t for me. I know it is what I am passionate about and I feel like it is my calling.

I’ve always been told by friends, family, and peers “Bailey, you’re such a good writer. I wish I could write as well as you.” I think as journalists, we all doubt ourselves and our abilities from time to time. Therefore, it is nice to hear affirming words from others about our talent and knack for working with words.

I was extremely lucky to have the opportunity to serve as an intern at Mountain Times Publications this summer. During my interview, I admitted that I had missed being on a staff because I hadn’t belonged to one in four years. I did go to an interest meeting for “The Appalachian” and was very disappointed when I was unable to join due to my constrictive schedule (I commute and I have a part-time job while I go to college at my local grocery store where I am a Bookkeeper). It was definitely a challenge working for an actual publication outside of a school setting. I get this unexplainable, but amazing rush when I am assigned a story and I instantly begin planning how I am going to both inform and “wow” my audience.

One of my first journalism professors at App told me that I write good questions. I was so happy to receive the compliment, but didn’t fully agree with her because I was just beginning my major courses. Now, I am able to agree with her statement and have realized just how true it is because of my classes and my internship. One of my best qualities as a journalist is that I always ask myself what would I want to know about a certain topic, I also make sure to think about what would bore me to death if I was reading a story on the topic. When I write, I do the complete opposite of what I would consider to be boring. I wrote four feature stories during my internship, two for the Watauga Democrat and two for magazines (Autumn Times and All About Women). For all of these stories, I went into the interview with questions I know nobody else would ask. I do that on purpose. I think of the things nobody else would think to ask because the most thought-provoking and off the wall questions make for the most interesting stories. When my grandmother read my first article in “All About Women” and she called me to tell me what she thought, she said: “Bailey, that was a very good article. I read the entire thing, it was all so interesting throughout the story.” I was thrilled because I knew I had done my job well because my goal is always to hook the readers so they do not stop reading.

Appalachian wasn’t my first choice. Like most students who graduate from high school, I wanted to go off and revel in my newfound independence. Sadly, reality set in and my mother’s logical reasoning made sense so I stayed in Ashe and attended classes at Wilkes Community College. I graduated with my Associate in Arts in Spring 2017. Although I detested the idea of community college at first (I was a member of the National Beta Club, a yearbook editor, and student council representative all four years), in all honesty I thought I was above community college. Looking back on it now, I want to shake my head at my thoughts as an eighteen year old girl worried about what people thought of my life choices. I met some amazing instructors, learned so much and saved a ton of money. In Fall of 2017 I transferred to App and began my journey as a Mountaineer. I have grown to love this school and it has caused me to grow in ways I never thought were possible and I am so thankful.

It turns out I had more to say than I thought I did, but I hope this post gave some insight into who I am and how I have evolved into the person I am today. Thanks for reading!

-BL