A News Nerd's Journey

With a dream sparked from her father's work in T.V. turned into a goal she’d pursue for years, Stacy Haynes-Moore has been very involved in the news her entire life. She calls herself a “News Nerd” because of how often and enthusiastically she listens to the news. Her father worked as a media consultant and traveled around to meet with news stations from all over the country when Stacy was a child. This sparked her passion for media.

            When Stacy Haynes-Moore was in elementary school, she and her friends played a game called “broadcast reporter” in which they pretended to be news reporters. In middle school, Stacy discovered her love for writing. She wrote poems, stories, and anything else she could think of. High school brought new opportunities. Stacy became a reporter for her high school newspaper and was later promoted to an editor position. She also attended the University of Iowa’s journalism camp.

            Going into college at the University of Missouri, Stacy Haynes-Moore wanted to go into Tv broadcasting. However, because she enjoyed writing and learning about people, she decided to switch her major to print journalism, the branch of journalism involving newspapers and magazines.

            After college, Stacy got a job reporting for the Kirksville Daily Express. There, she worked vigorous hours to publish new stories every day, even to the point of working holidays. She worked for the daily paper for about a year before deciding to leave the small company because she was ready to move on and wanted holidays off.

Stacy then moved to the Mount Vernon Sun, a weekly paper. She got a job as an editor and stayed there for some time. After a few years, she decided it was time for another change.

After seeing an ad in the newspaper, Stacy decided to apply to a company of online journalists. She got the job and worked with her coworkers, which were very few, to publish unusual articles and online magazines until the company was bought out. Not wanting to work for a large company, Stacy quit and decided to return to school to pursue her love of people in the teaching world.

            Stacy Haynes-Moore has loved news and journalism her entire life and even pursued a career in it as a young adult. She thoroughly enjoys her job as an LA teacher at Kennedy High School because “it sort of blends what I like to do, which is working with students [and] working still in media.”