Haley Hart

Haley Hart is a sophomore at Morro Bay High School, and she’s lived on the coast her whole life. “I have literally never lived anywhere else besides Los Osos.” she says.

Haley’s childhood was built around books, calico critters, and art. When interviewing her about her childhood, she shared pictures of herself around the age of 4 to 7. She teased herself by comparing her appearance to that of  Bob Ross, referencing her coily, brown hair. Haley shared more about her childhood with me, saying, “When I was a kid, I talked a lot, you couldn’t shut me up. And at that age, it was something that I would get praised for. But around Middle School is when l started to get criticized for my loudness.” So, when Haley started at the local junior high, she began working on “talking less' ' and not being as “loud as she used to be”. She spoke more about her talkativeness by saying, “I noticed very quickly that it was not an admired trait to have once you reached a certain age.”. She recalls her feelings in middle school by saying“I also felt my confidence decreasing a lot, and not even necessarily because I felt that way, more because I felt like it was something that I was expected to feel.” 

Haley then emphasized that it would show up in different areas in her life. For example in class, “When I would answer in class it was followed by ‘Does that make sense?’ or ‘Is that right?’ and I’d sort of look for some sort of validation. I think a lot of girls do that though, we have to do this whole fake doubting ourselves act even when we are well aware we’re right. We have to bend over backwards just to not seem cocky and it’s exhausting. ”