Former Local 4 anchor Lauren Sanders called it.
I was an eager, news-obsessed 17-year-old who was one of many Metro Detroit Youth Day scholarship recipients when she interviewed me on set in July 2011.
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“Megan Woods, you are planning to go to Grand Valley, to study journalism I might add. Brandon, Gail look out she may be here … ”
I’ve watched the clip nearly a dozen times since I accepted a reporter job here at Local 4.
Embarking on my first few weeks here is surreal. I vividly remember as a kid playing with a “Muppets from Space” news microphone toy that I got from Wendy’s. I would repeat my name over and over like they did on the news. I also vividly remember it driving my parents NUTS. I can’t find that toy microphone no matter how many times I dig in my old toy chest -- something tells me my mother might behind its disappearance.
We would watch the news every night and I remember my dad pointing at ever Black reporter or anchor saying, “You know, you can do that,” but of course as a child it didn’t quite register until years later.
Watching local news wasn’t just something I did at home. It was a tradition at my grandmother’s house. Whenever my parents dropped me and my brother off the kitchen television was already flipped to Local 4. In the family room, another station was on and another in her bedroom. My grandmother would binge watch all the Detroit TV news stations every day -- that was before we knew binging was even a thing -- and guess who was sitting right next to her watching.
It is incredibly hard to put into words how it feels knowing I will be one of those journalists she’ll be watching. In the summer of 2013, when I interned here at Local 4, I’m not sure who was more excited -- my parents, my grandparents or me. To the average person an internship seems minor but when the intern coordinator James Jackson gave me a tour all I kept telling myself is, “You made it.”
During my first week as a reporter, I bumped into James and he said to me, “What a full circle moment.” I wish I could go back in time and tell college me that your dreams and accomplishments go beyond an internship, that eventually you did get the reporter job at that same station, that annoying your high school journalism teacher with way too many questions wasn’t in vain. The journey to get to this point wasn’t easy, but worth it.
After graduating from Grand Valley State University in 2015, I packed up any old furniture my parents were willing to give me and moved to Traverse City for my very first reporter job. In the beginning, there were so many times I asked myself, “What did you get yourself into?” I’m grateful my mentors, close family and friends didn’t let me give up. I eventually moved 17 hours away from everyone I ever knew to Lafayette, Louisiana and then Roanoke, Virginia. The homesickness never really went away. Corned beef sandwiches, pop (not soda), potato chips, a chicken shawarma and Thanksgiving morning just isn’t the same anywhere else. I’m excited to be back home telling your stories.