.gif)
Hello, my fellow Colorado County residents! My name is Shayla Kuykendall, and I am proud to be a part of the Colorado County Citizen family. I grew up in Eagle Lake and even shared human-interest stories featuring some of my fellow citizens on my blog, Intellectual Beats. Since returning to my hometown this past September, the decision to become a reporter for the Citizen has felt like a call to service.
I realized I wanted to be a journalist when I was 11 or 12, because I loved writing. However, my time at Rice High School helped to solidify my decision. From 2010 to 2014, I competed in UIL Journalism competitions where I placed in feature and news writing. I advanced to regionals twice and went to state once. While in school, I also participated in band and color guard.
After high school, I attended Wharton County Junior College and received an Associate of Arts degree. From there, I went to Houston Baptist University (now known as Houston Christian University), where I majored in mass media arts. I served as the Life and Arts Editor at our student ran, online newspaper. I then went on to intern at an online family publication and at KPRC-TV (Channel 2 News), where I gained real world experience writing for digital news and television. I’m grateful to have interviewed Cirque Du Soleil, the Children’s Museum of Houston and Dress for Success Houston.
