How I fell into Journalism

Mold really grosses me out. Mold on food, mold in a dingy house or anywhere else generally makes me recoil in disgust and become slightly ill. In fact, I have almost developed a full-blown phobia of mold, but it was mold that seduced me into becoming a journalist.

In my second year of high school, boundaries dictated that I transfer to the new school being built. I went from a Saint to a North Star. Life in North Star country (yes, that’s really what several school officials called it) was boring. So I immersed myself in as many extra-curricular activities as possible, one of which included the newspaper, which we named, The Stargazer. Yes, the astronomy theme continues. My parents and teachers had always said I was a strong writer, and although I never felt passionate about writing school assignments, I was excited to get in on the ground level of a club and have an important-sounding title.

That year I reported and bounced around as the editor for Features, Opinion and eventually News. True, part of the draw was getting out of class on several occasions to get the paper out by deadline, but covering the happenings of a new school community is fascinating in and of itself. Everything that was wrong with that place, we reported on. This was much to the chagrin of the administrators, but I like to think our taxpaying parents were pleased. And one day, near the end of our staff trip to a conference in San Francisco, our advisor gave us our best scoop yet: St. Charles East High School (my old high school across town) was infested with mold. This mold was not your average mold, it was Stachyobotris, a thick, black fungus that is known to cause cancer and other various ailments to those who are exposed to it.

Of course, the school district was trying to gloss over this issue as much as possible, but upon inspection by the health department, the school was closed indefinitely and East-siders were routed over to North High School for the remaining school year. Besides only having to go to school from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, this also gave The Stargazer staff the biggest story it had seen yet.

Covering such a controversial issue as a teenager, not to mention as a student in the school district and someone who had been exposed to this mold for a year, was a challenge to say the least. But it was hands-down the most rewarding reporting I have done to date. The Stargazer uncovered much more dirt on the district than the local paper, and the moldy school made headlines on World News Tonight and CNN. A Chicago Tribune reporter even interviewed our staff and commended us in her column. I am convinced that several school administrators really disliked me after covering the mold story, and probably regretted ever having given the go-ahead for a school newspaper, but meanwhile I had completely fallen for journalism.

From high school on, I thought I wanted to be a reporter. But I’ve since realized that my strong type-A personality and creative side better suit the editing and design aspects of journalism. Actually, from the age of five and until high school, when I decided it was an impractical career choice, I wanted to pursue fashion design. So the fact that eight years later I’m going back to that (clothes, a newspaper—it’s all relative) is fun.

~Tara