MY STORIES:

• Salt Lake City library teaches older adults basic technology
• Local man travels to Salt Lake City locations and does hair for older adults
• Salt Lake City couple takes PALS program into their own hands

MY BLOG:

Throughout this semester, I have learned several valuable lessons. My beat, coupled with the array of discussions we have had in class, have allowed me to better understand the community around me. I have realized the great variety of ways individuals, such as me, can help those around us. I will use one particular article I wrote in order to demonstrate the most valuable lessons I learned. This article would be the story on an individual named Gary Cunningham.

Cunningham is a great example to me. Long ago, he decided he would pursue a career that would allow him to better serve his community. More particularly, he decided he would specifically find a job that caters to the aging population — providing hair care at very reasonable prices. The primary part of his business entailed traveling to assisted-living facilities, retirement homes and clients’ homes to offer such services. This made it much easier on retired people, some of whom can’t drive, to benefit from having pretty or groomed hair. They, too, care about how they look and feel.

Because my grandmother and mother owned a cosmetology school my entire childhood, walking into this interview, I thought I already knew exactly what it would entail. However, by the end of the interview, I realized just how little I knew about what people could offer in this industry. Throughout all my childhood, I was around hundreds of individuals entering the same hair care industry. Not a single one of them did it for the motivation that Cunningham did — to help individuals in a difficult spot, or in other words, to help the aging population who have little to no money or mobility receive the benefits of proper hair treatment.

Because of this great experience, I now have a better goal for my own life. Not only have I acquired a greater desire to serve the retired community, but I also have generated a new plan for how to do so. I want to combine my journalism skills with my photography background to create a great package deal for families all over Utah. This package would include videos, photos and written stories directly aimed at cherishing and documenting one retired individual’s life, such as someone’s grandmother or great-grandmother. I might also offer an obituary package, which would involve a professional picture and written obituary — a great opportunity to utilize my journalism skills acquired in this course and others. Both these packages would be offered at a discounted and affordable price, thereby allowing many families to benefit from having the stories remembered of those aging individuals in their respective families who may soon pass away.

In short, this class has taught me invaluable lessons. I look forward to my future of service in this particular community.

ABOUT ME:

I am a junior majoring in broadcast journalism at the University of Utah. I have attended a different university each year of my college education. All three schools have taught me something about myself. As a freshman at Utah Valley University, I learned how to live on my own and do everything myself. My sophomore year was spent in Logan at Utah State University. I fell in love with writing under pressure for the school newspaper, The Statesman. I now attend The University of Utah. My writing skills have been tested and I have made a lot of headway. I am excited to see the continuous growth.

I intern with the Utah Jazz as a radio broadcast assistant. Photography is a passion of mine, along with writing. Seeing my name in print is amazing, as well as seeing my signature on a professional photo that will forever mean a lot to whoever my client might be. I have come to the realization that nothing compares to the smiling face I encounter when I show my source the finished work that involves their story and input.

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