About MeMy name is Graeme Melcher and I'm a student writer and journalist out of Jupiter, Florida, and I'm proud to be a coverage editor on The Muse at Dreyfoos. I'm originally from the great city of Chicago. My favorite pastimes are writing, reading, solving crossword puzzles, watching Survivor, and traveling this beautiful world.
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A picture from my summer 2023 visit to Iceland, one of my favorite places I've ever been.
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Personal Narrative
My journey has been a long and winding road, and not one that I thought would lead me to where I am today.
Growing up in Chicago, my aspirations were few. I liked to read and watch television, like I do now, but I didn’t have a future to weigh me down.
Starting when I was 3, I’ve been a dancer for most of my life. It was simply an ever-present part of my childhood – my board books traded out for ballet slippers and the comfort of my home replaced, for hours at a time, with one ballet studio or another.
I’m grateful for my past in dance, only because it pushed me towards where I am.
I moved to Florida, and went to a middle school for the arts as a dance major. It was these three years that pushed me to realize that dance was not my true passion – merely an in-between thing to keep me focused.
At that school, I went to my first creative writing class and fell in love with words. In retrospect, I’ve always had it. I started reading even before I toddled around to songs at the community center. I have fond memories of the books I read, progressing faster than my peers. I loved Encyclopedia Brown books because the child prodigy was relatable to me.
My path was forever shifted, even before I knew it. In eighth grade, it became real – I could switch majors when I went into high school. I didn’t expect to make it. We had a backup plan in case I failed my audition – I would still audition for dance, an acceptable second choice.
In the end, I got in for communications – and not for dance.
Choosing my beloved newsmagazine, The Muse, was not difficult. It was my favorite class, because journalism speaks to my innermost qualities. It is an introverted, psychological, wordy and nerdy art. In other words, it was a match made in heaven.
It has been an honor to work in this field I so admire, even if I’m only one semester in at the writing of this narrative. It speaks to the lessons I learned in dance, my volatile and often-overlooked past life.
I’ve learned all of my life to handle situations with poise and grace. When on stage, everything must look effortless and free, even if the proverbial duck’s feet are frantically kicking underneath the surface. This has been my most important takeaway from journalism as well – to reach past my anxious tendencies and handle the complexities of coverage work has been my most difficult task.
I'm a strong believer in fate, that people go where they're meant to go. Never would I have guessed that journalism would be my Thing with a capital T, a gap left absent after I left dance. And yet, here we are, as I've completed a year on the publication and become coverage editor, winning awards and making friends and memories along the way. I couldn't be more proud of myself for taking action to develop my own future.
I’m still a young journalist, learning my way around this vast sphere of pressure. But, as a former dancer, I know that pressure is my own greatest enemy. As I move forward and expand my skills, I hope to keep my integrity and discipline, just like the ballet teachers demand.
Growing up in Chicago, my aspirations were few. I liked to read and watch television, like I do now, but I didn’t have a future to weigh me down.
Starting when I was 3, I’ve been a dancer for most of my life. It was simply an ever-present part of my childhood – my board books traded out for ballet slippers and the comfort of my home replaced, for hours at a time, with one ballet studio or another.
I’m grateful for my past in dance, only because it pushed me towards where I am.
I moved to Florida, and went to a middle school for the arts as a dance major. It was these three years that pushed me to realize that dance was not my true passion – merely an in-between thing to keep me focused.
At that school, I went to my first creative writing class and fell in love with words. In retrospect, I’ve always had it. I started reading even before I toddled around to songs at the community center. I have fond memories of the books I read, progressing faster than my peers. I loved Encyclopedia Brown books because the child prodigy was relatable to me.
My path was forever shifted, even before I knew it. In eighth grade, it became real – I could switch majors when I went into high school. I didn’t expect to make it. We had a backup plan in case I failed my audition – I would still audition for dance, an acceptable second choice.
In the end, I got in for communications – and not for dance.
Choosing my beloved newsmagazine, The Muse, was not difficult. It was my favorite class, because journalism speaks to my innermost qualities. It is an introverted, psychological, wordy and nerdy art. In other words, it was a match made in heaven.
It has been an honor to work in this field I so admire, even if I’m only one semester in at the writing of this narrative. It speaks to the lessons I learned in dance, my volatile and often-overlooked past life.
I’ve learned all of my life to handle situations with poise and grace. When on stage, everything must look effortless and free, even if the proverbial duck’s feet are frantically kicking underneath the surface. This has been my most important takeaway from journalism as well – to reach past my anxious tendencies and handle the complexities of coverage work has been my most difficult task.
I'm a strong believer in fate, that people go where they're meant to go. Never would I have guessed that journalism would be my Thing with a capital T, a gap left absent after I left dance. And yet, here we are, as I've completed a year on the publication and become coverage editor, winning awards and making friends and memories along the way. I couldn't be more proud of myself for taking action to develop my own future.
I’m still a young journalist, learning my way around this vast sphere of pressure. But, as a former dancer, I know that pressure is my own greatest enemy. As I move forward and expand my skills, I hope to keep my integrity and discipline, just like the ballet teachers demand.