ABOUT

My name is Kaleigh White. I am 24 years old and I am from Linesville, Pennsylvania. I graduated high school in the top 20% of my class in 2018, after which I matriculated at Allegheny College. My senior year of high school, I took classes at Allegheny in the morning, putting me a little bit ahead of my peers in terms of credits.

When I came to Allegheny, I was bound and determined that I was going to study theatre and go into theatre performance professionally. After getting here, I applied for a work study position in the costume shop, working under the shop supervisor and resident costume designer. I got the job, and I haven’t looked back. While I do love performing, I also came to realize that I love creating theatre, too. As a costume shop technician, I’ve developed skills in cutting, stitching, and draping, as well as pattern drafting and alterations among other things. I am very grateful to have gotten this position, and I don’t know what I’d be doing without it.

I had initially intended to minor in economics. With this, I figured I could get a job in business or marketing, and maybe graphic design and advertising, too. While taking a communications class to fill out my schedule, I heard of the college’s new major in integrative informatics. I talked with some of the department faculty, and it sounded exactly like what I wanted. It had everything that I had wanted from the economics minor, as well as everything that the economics minor did not provide. The informatics major combines my love of marketing, data analytics, and graphic design in a way that I hadn’t known was possible. With the informatics major, I hope to go into theatre marketing and management, and I know I would be happy in such a position.

I got into journalism my junior year of college. I’d always loved writing, so when my friend (one of the editors-in-chief) asked me to join as a section editor, I knew I had to say yes. After a semester writing for Features and News, I moved over to the Opinion section, where I really found my footing. I love AP style, and the whole editing process; the joy I find in reading articles in search of misplaced hyphens and unwanted Oxford commas is all but unparalleled. In spring of my junior year, I took a journalism class to fill out my distribution requirements, and that is really what fully solidified my love of hard news writing. My senior year, I took over as Opinion Editor, occasionally writing for Features and News as needed. Finally, in my last semester, I took on an internship with my campus' newspaper. In doing this, I got to be more involved in the editing for all sections, as well as helping with layout for the entire paper and taking on more tasks as needed. All that is to say, I truly love writing, and have a passion for journalism. While it isn’t what I studied (although at times I certainly prioritized it over my studies), and isn’t something I intended to get involved with, I am so glad I fell in love with it and could certainly see myself as a professional journalist.

All in all, I know that this seems like a lot - I’m a person with a lot of different interests and skills, in a lot of different areas that don’t tend to overlap. There’s a lot of things I could see myself doing for a long-term career, and for a while, I thought this was a detriment to my career potential. But since then, I’ve realized that I’m not only well-rounded on paper, but also as a whole person. All of these interests I’ve been able to pursue and explore deeply have filled my soul with so much contentment, and while I don’t know exactly when they’ll get me “there” in life, I certainly am excited to see where they will take me next.