Primarily raised in Ashland, Aliah John, now in her final year at Ashland High School, grew up taking risks. John’s mom taught gymnastics, so naturally she started doing it at two years old. John went on to do gymnastics for ten years, but at the age of twelve she stopped. Her adolescence had approached, and she was ready to assert her autonomy. She still stayed active, but the creativity that poured out of her couldn’t keep doing something as tangible as gymnastics. 

She has honed her self-expression through many outlets over the years, from dance to music to kickboxing. Trapped endlessly in her house during quarantine, without any other methods of expressing herself creatively, she turned to her guitar that she received and learned how to play at nine years old. She spent her free time, which all of us seemed to have had a lot of, writing songs and recording music. Aliah’s love for writing also led her to join Rogue News her sophomore year, where she has found a close community with others possessing a similar journalistic mindset.