For many students, one of the best feelings comes from going to the student center after chapel, checking their mailbox and seeing they have mail. However, Harding students also know the disappointment of seeing everyone else with mail, while they open their mailbox to find nothing. Junior Tori Gooch, created something to help those who are used to what feels like a never-ending black hole in their mailbox: the Gooch Gazette.
Gooch created the newsletter to ensure she and her friends would always have something to look forward to when heading to the student center.
“I know all my friends like to get mail,” Gooch said. “We always go check their mail and have nothing, and they are always sad. So, I wanted to do something creative and send out something every week.”
Gooch said she loves reading and writing, and she needed a creative outlet.
“I’ve always enjoyed reading things, but I’m an accounting major, and so I felt like I needed to do something where I could be creative,” Gooch said.
Many of Gooch’s friends look forward to reading the Gooch Gazette. Although Gooch has mailed the newsletter for only the past two weeks, sophomore Ashlyn Alexander said she loves seeing how her friend’s personality shows in her writing.
“It’s funny reading [the Gooch Gazette], because it’s her life, and she’s not trying to be funny at all in it, but it’s hilarious and super cute because you can definitely see her personality through it,” Alexander said.
Not only is the Gooch Gazette a source of humor, but the newsletter has also encouraged Gooch’s friends to embrace vulnerability. Junior Catie Stacy said seeing her friend share some of her struggles in writing, for multiple people to read, has helped her realize she can do the same.
“It’s made me feel like someone else has experienced what I’m experiencing too,” Stacy said. “It does allow me to be more vulnerable, whether that’s with Tori or with someone else. I realized I’m not alone, and if she can talk about it with 10 or 12 people, then I should be able to talk about it with just one person.”
For other students who don’t want the feeling that comes from empty mailboxes, Gooch said anyone who wants to receive the Gooch Gazette can reach out over social media and let her know so she can add them to her weekly mailing list.
