Hidden Gem - Huntley: Boy's career off to the 'write' start
By AMBER KROSEL – akrosel@nwherald.com
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| Thirteen-year-old Michael Geheren researches advertisements from historical sources at the Huntley Area Public Library. Geheren is working on a book about the history of Huntley. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com) |
HUNTLEY – When Michael Geheren was in sixth grade, he couldn’t stand writing.
Whether it be an English paper or extended research, Geheren didn’t have much interest in improving his sentence structure or playing grammar police.
But only two years later, the Huntley boy’s career-mindedness has made a swift turn.
Now 13, Geheren has discovered what seems to be his calling – journalism. And like many aspiring and professional journalists, the Marlowe Middle School eighth-grader also has dreams to write and publish his own book.
That goal should be a reality near the winter of 2010, when the teen’s first book is scheduled to be released. Geheren furiously has been compiling facts and interviewing residents about his hometown for months, to be featured in Down Home in Huntley: The Friendly Village with a Country Charm.
“It started when I did a research project about Huntley,” Geheren said. “Then last June, when [village manager] Carl Tomaso passed away, I did lots of research and got the idea for a book.”
The book, which will run about 200 pages, features a foreword written by Village President Chuck Sass and Village Manager Dave Johnson. Geheren, who has lived in Huntley almost his entire life, will address his personal history in the prologue.
Within the book’s core is an explanation of Huntley before its founding, as well as the tremendous amount of growth and a look to the future.
For research, Geheren talked to longtime residents, gathered individual story submissions and pored over books about the village during many trips to the Huntley Area Public Library. He’s done interviews by phone, e-mail and in person, along with some video that he has shot and edited himself.
Geheren – who also works as a “kid reporter” for Scholastic News – said he plans to later add a “Wikipedia of Huntley history” to his Web site, where visitors can edit in details after the book’s publication.
“There’s not that much online about Huntley,” Geheren said. “I think it will help a lot of people with research.”
In addition to near-completing his book, Geheren recently helped Marlowe start up their first student newspaper using Adobe InDesign, a program many professional newspapers use.
The staff’s first issue of six pages ran two weeks before the winter holiday break. As editor, Geheren said about 60 students showed interest in writing stories about the school and its sports and extracurricular activities.
“We’ve kind of started from nothing,” Geheren said. “We had a lot of reporters, but most of them wanted to be photographers.”
Geheren had that same sentiment once when he joined a local children’s publication two years ago. He thought photography would be the right route, but editors told him he needed to write.
Geheren found he enjoyed journalism so much, that he applied to work for Scholastic News. Last fall, he traveled with the publication to cover the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis – which landed him an exclusive with presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.
On Election Night, Geheren hung out at MSNBC studios in Washington, D.C.
“That kind of inspired me as a career,” said Geheren, who prefers political reporting to other beats. “I met Tom Brokaw. He was really nice to me and told me what it took to be a journalist.”
Geheren said he plans to focus on broadcast reporting, and is hoping to attend Northwestern University. But after his McCain story, Arizona State University sent him a letter encouraging him to apply to their journalism program in four years.
Geheren gives thanks to several teachers and administrators who continue to be supportive, as well as his family.
“Oh, we’re proud of him,” said Sharon Cacciabondo, Geheren’s grandmother. “I think he’s got so much more confidence. He’s always been a reader and into computers, so this was kind of a natural progression.”
“People in the family joke, ‘Where did he come from?’ “ she said, laughing.
Despite the uncertain future of the news industry, Geheren remains hopeful. As far as openings go, he said he’ll take what he can get.
“Wherever I can get a job at the beginning is what I want to do,” Geheren said. “I want to go where the big news is.”
