Haydee Barahona driven by passion for storytelling

Haydee Barahona knew she excelled at writing when she first came to California State University, Bakersfield in 2020, but she wasn't sure what major would be the best fit for her.

Barahona applied to the university as a Spanish major, thinking she might want to become an interpreter, but quickly realized that wasn't what she wanted. She also briefly majored in philosophy and art history.

It wasn't until she took her first journalism class - Issues and Practices in Journalism - that Barahona realized that being a communications major was the right choice for her.

"I've always wanted to do something where I could serve the people in my community, and it wasn't until I took this journalism class that I realized that this could actually help a lot of people," she said. "Being a student here has changed the trajectory of my career plans and how I see my future."

Barahona is preparing to graduate later this month with her bachelor's in communications with a concentration in journalism. She's not stopping there, as she's already been admitted to University of California, Berkeley to pursue her master's in journalism.

"I'm ready to close this chapter, as much as I'm going to miss it," she said. "I've had the opportunity to meet so many different people. It's been a really good experience here."

Barahona has kept busy during her time at CSUB. In addition to her classes, she has been a major contributor to the student-run newspaper The Runner for more than two years. She is also representing CSUB as part of CalMatters' Student Journalism Network, which brings together journalism students from across the state to report on higher education.

Barahona remembers how excited she was to see her first story published, titled "The Power of Women's Work," in which she interviewed female artists and CSUB alumni who use textile work as a creative medium.

"Seeing my name and a story I wrote being published somewhere was amazing," she said. "I was sharing it with my whole family."

Barahona was an editor in chief of The Runner from Spring 2023 through last fall, a role she didn't anticipate getting when she first joined the newsroom as a social media manager.

"I had to step up and really trust myself to put out a great newspaper and lead this whole team of students. It gave me a lot more confidence," she said.

Barahona has spent her last semester on campus serving as editor of The Runner's annual Converge Magazine and as the translations editor for El Veloz, the paper's Spanish publication.

Barahona helped establish El Veloz last semester. She got the idea to start a Spanish version of The Runner after meeting some Hispanic journalists at a conference. Barahona and other students involved with the paper did the translations themselves.

"I thought it would make sense to do something like this at CSUB given the population of students that we have," she said. "I had been thinking about doing it for so long, but I never thought I would be in the position to make that kind of change on campus. It's been a lot of hard work, but to me I think it's so worth it."

Barahona believes El Veloz has been successful at both an academic level and a personal level. Being Hispanic herself, she said it helped her connect more with her parents and give them a better idea of what she is studying.

While her parents understand English, that's not the case for some students in the newsroom. Through the Spanish edition of The Runner, the parents of these students were finally able to read their children's work.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.