Haley Adams

Resume

EDUCATION
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN                                                     December 2010
Major: Journalism with a minor in French

IES Paris Study Abroad, Paris, France                          September 2010-December 2010

JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE
Inside Columbia Magazine, Editorial Assistant, January 2011-present
•   Pitches and writes features, as well as various departments and special advertising sections
•   Writes and manages e-newsletters, e-blasts and social media
•   Hires editorial interns and supervises the internship program
•   Started CoMo Style, a fashion and beauty blog that highlights trends and news in the area

Columbia Daily Tribune, Lifestyle Intern, May 2010-August 2010
•   Pitched and wrote features about health, style, travel, and home décor for the newspaper’s lifestyle section
•   Brainstormed and coordinated photo shoots with the Photo Department
•   Developed relationships with local businesses to borrow clothing for fashion shoots

Boston Magazine, Production Intern, May 2009-August 2009
•   Helped Assistant Managing Editor with various tasks such as making edits in InDesign and writing the “Contributors” section
•   Fact-checked two of the publication’s biggest issues: Best of Boston and the Best Schools
•   Learned basic web skills by coding web content and making slideshows for the web site

Indiana Daily Student, Reporter, September 2008-May 2010
•   Wrote for newspaper with 15,000 daily circulation
•   Reported for various beats, including the IU administration and the Greek community
•   Developed skills for interviewing high-profile officials and figures

INSIDE Magazine, Departments Editor, Associate Editor, December 2008-May 2010
•   Assisted writers with story directions from pitch to final draft
•   Collaborated with Editor-In-Chief, Art Director, and Photo Editor on design
•   Wrote weekly web content for new web site launched in August 2009

SKILLS
Computer: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe InDesign, knowledge of CMS, SEO and social media platforms, basic HTML knowledge, Final Cut, Lexis Nexis
Languages: English (fluent), French (conversational)

2 months ago

I recently started CoMo Style, a fashion and beauty blog devoted to news and trends in the Columbia, Mo. area. Check it out here. This blog is brand new, but I’m planning to fill it with weekly posts about where Columbia residents can find fashion and beauty trends in the area and where they can find great deals.

2 months ago View high resolution

Columbia’s 100 Must-Eat Foods

I wrote part of this story and oversaw the interns work with it. It was a huge project, but it was extremely popular with Inside Columbia’s readers. Read the story here.

3 months ago

Carl Edwards is a successful NASCAR driver and he’s from Columbia, Mo., where I live. I loved doing this story because people here are so proud of Carl and it was fun to delve into his story more. Read the story here or keep reading below. (Photo courtesy of Roush Fenway Racing)

Carl Edwards Drives Home A Lesson in Sportsmanship

By Haley Adams

There was a day in November when NASCAR driver Carl Edwards found himself in one of the major sports stories of the year. He was in Miami for the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, the final race of the Sprint Cup Series. The series is the most elite league in NASCAR, and Columbia’s hometown hero was favored to win the championship. With Edwards as the points leader, it seemed as if the championship title was just around the Homestead corner. Edwards had 2,359 points on the board, 3 points ahead of Tony Stewart, a seasoned racer with three series championships under his helmet.

Edwards led the most laps of the race, but Stewart pulled ahead and crossed the finish line first, followed closely by Edwards. Edwards and Stewart both finished with 2,403 points, the first tie in Sprint Cup Series history. Stewart ended up winning the tiebreaker since he won more races in the season than Edwards.

It was one of the top racing stories, maybe one of the top sports stories, in a year when sports headlines seemed to be more about scandals than sports. There were lockouts in the NFL, lockouts in the NBA and child molestation allegations at Penn State and Syracuse University. It seemed as if athletes and coaches in 2011 spent more time defending themselves than playing their sports.

So, yes, Edwards lost the tiebreaker, but the way he handled it seemed refreshing. He congratulated Stewart, he congratulated his team and he seemed genuinely grateful for the support he received throughout the whole season. “This night is all about Tony Stewart,” he said in his post-race interview.

In a year when athletes often came across as selfish and spoiled, Edwards conducted himself like a gentleman. The native Columbian hasn’t always had the best public image, but on that day in November, he was the sports role model people have been looking for. He said he was going to be the best loser NASCAR had ever seen, and after such a tough loss, many would say he was.

Weeks after the season finish, Edwards reflected on the 2011 season, saying it showed what he’s learned over the years.

“NASCAR has a way of really making you understand that if you give your effort and do everything right, sometimes you just don’t win,” he says.

THE ONE WHO WAS PICKED FIRST

With the Daytona 500 coming up on Feb. 26, kicking off the 2012 Sprint Cup Series, winning is what Edwards plans to do in 2012. Analysts are projecting Edwards as the favorite, and his fans in Columbia and across the world are crossing their fingers once again. So can he do it? And what will this mean for Columbia if he does?

Columbia is no stranger to success stories. Moguls and superstars from Sam Walton to Sheryl Crow have called Columbia home for a time. Local kids have gone on to Ivy League schools, the Great White Way and top jobs in business and politics.

But no hometown kid has made Columbia prouder than Carl Edwards has. He was born here, went through the public schools here and he spends quite a bit of time here at his Columbia home. In the NASCAR world, he’s a superstar, but in Columbia, he’s more accessible. Almost everyone has a Carl Edwards story. Some people went to school with him. Some have worked out with him at Key Largo. Others remember him as the kid doing backflips at Capital Speedway in Holts Summit.

But to the people who knew him well as a kid growing up in Columbia, they remember moments that show why Edwards has risen to the top and why he’s done it gracefully.

One of these people is Nancy Russell, a family friend and mother of one of Edwards’ good friends, Sam Russell. She says it was evident that Edwards had an aptitude for athletics at a young age, plus a charisma his peers could sense.

“He was the one who was picked first, every time, in any sport, in any game, in anything,” Russell says. “He could do something on the monkey bars that nobody else could do.”

And even though Edwards was picked first, he also tried to include others. “He was the kind of person that if there were some boys that didn’t get picked, he would try to influence the pick,” Russell says.

When Edwards wasn’t with his friends, he was racing. His dad, Carl Edwards Sr., who has raced for years, put his son in a go-cart at the age of 4. Edwards started racing competitively when he was 13, on tracks around mid-Missouri and the Midwest.

Russell says Edwards had the perseverance and ambition at a young age and she would often ask him what he wanted in life. “His answer was always ‘I’m going to be a racecar driver,’ ” Russell says. “Then he was a racecar driver and it was ‘I’m going to be a champion.’ ”

Edwards’ perseverance paid off because now he is one of the most talked about drivers in NASCAR. He remains the 2012 favorite, despite a widely known “curse” that the guy who comes in second in a championship race often doesn’t do too well the next year.

Joe Menzer, a writer with NASCAR.com, believes Edwards is the one who can overcome the superstition because he’s already been in this situation. In 2008, Edwards won nine races. NASCAR followers picked him to be the one to beat Jimmie Johnson, a driver who went on to win five consecutive titles.

“He’s already been through it, he’s been in this position,” Menzer says. “He’s already been the next guy.”

Menzer also thinks Edwards’ performance in 2011 shows he is a promising driver. “It wasn’t like he lost the championship; he made Tony Stewart win it,” Menzer says.

“He did everything he could to make Tony Stewart have to win that championship down the stretch.”

Edwards Sr. says as much as he wishes his son could have won the Sprint Cup Championship, he believes Carl Jr. is now a part of history. “I was really disappointed for Carl,” he says, “but mostly, I was proud that he played such a big part in the closest, and maybe the best, title fight in NASCAR history.”

PAYING IT FORWARD

Edwards wants, and plans, to win in 2012, but he says he’s learned over the years that winning isn’t everything. And while it seems cliché, he’s shown through his actions that there’s more to life than championships.

He likes to help others from far away to close by. He works with many organizations, including the Speedway Children’s Charities and the Dream Factory, and he was appointed to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in 2010. Last December, Edwards and his Roush Fenway teammate, Trevor Bayne, traveled to Monterey, Mexico, to visit an orphanage.

“It was an eye opener,” he says. “It reminded me what was important.”

In Columbia, the example most used to illustrate Edwards’s generosity is how he helped raise money for his friend Sam Russell. When Sam got into a bike accident that left him paralyzed from the mid-abdomen down, Nancy Russell asked Edwards if he would be interested in helping with a fundraiser that was being put together to help with Sam’s huge medical bills. And, of course, he did.

Even with the accolades Edwards receives, NASCAR fans know he’s not perfect. When he was an up-and-comer, other drivers were skeptical. “I think when Carl first burst onto the scene, it was almost like this guy’s too good to be true,” Menzer says.

Some thought he had a phony side. Stewart once called Edwards the “Eddie Haskell” of NASCAR, alluding to the “Leave It To Beaver” character who was overly polite to parents, but a bully to kids. The reputation got a boost when Edwards shoved fellow driver Matt Kenseth, then acted like he was going to punch him before Kenseth was to be interviewed by a reporter. The altercation made its way onto YouTube.

Menzer still thinks Edwards is a good guy even with the mistakes he’s made. “Yes, he can lose his temper as anyone can,” Menzer says. “We all have a side to us that we’re not proud of.”

Menzer adds that he thinks Edwards has matured and he believes fatherhood — Edwards is a father of two with his wife, Kate — has mellowed him a bit.

Edwards says he does think about being a role model, although he says he doesn’t think about it enough. “I’ve made some mistakes and done some dumb stuff,” Edwards says. “then you realize afterwards, ‘Oh, people are watching.’”

Menzer says Edwards is obviously aware of his public perception, but he thinks that’s the way it should be. “I think more athletes would be better off if they thought about that.”

DOES COLUMBIA CARE?

While the public knows who Edwards is and what he’s done, many think the magnitude of Edwards’ accomplishments has not caught on in Columbia — at least not as much as they should. Many think there should be a billboard or a sign noting Columbia as the “Hometown of Carl Edwards.”

Some have tried. For a short time in 2008, after Edwards won the Nationwide Championship Series, then known as the Busch Series, there was a billboard on Interstate 70. There was also talk of naming a part of Route WW after Edwards, and a bill was proposed, but politics kept it from going through. It seemed like Carl Edwards Drive was going to be a harder sell than anyone thought.

Renaming a street isn’t as easy as putting up a yard sale sign, but it’s nothing new to the NASCAR world. You’ll find Jeff Gordon Boulevard in the town of Pittsboro, Ind., where that NASCAR driver was raised. In Kannapolis, N.C., there’s Dale Earnhardt Boulevard and Earnhardt Road, plus Dale Earnhardt Plaza, a park dedicated to the racing legend who tragically died at the Daytona 500 in 2001.

So is Carl Edwards Drive, or an I-70 billboard something this city really needs? Columbian and NASCAR fan Jim Marberry thinks acknowledging Edwards’ accomplishments in a public way would not only be a tribute to Edwards, but also a benefit to the city.

“NASCAR fans are very loyal,” Marberry says. “There will be a few people going down I-70 who stop to eat lunch in Columbia and ride downtown to say ‘I was in the hometown of Carl Edwards.’ ”

Russell says there is more awareness about Carl’s accomplishments in recent years, but she still thinks some people feel uncomfortable with the sport. “There is way more understanding of ‘This is an athlete, this is a person of interest,’ ” Russell says, “but he’s not going to be, ever, like an NBA star or some other sport in Columbia because there is a snooty angle to avoiding NASCAR.”

Critics of NASCAR think of it as a redneck sport and Menzer says the perception problem is something NASCAR has been battling “almost its entire existence.” But he encourages anyone who is skeptical of the sport to go to a race and experience it. “Carl’s kind of like the sport,” Menzer says. “You’ve got to scratch under the surface a little bit. There’s a treasure trove of sport, personality and passion.”

A WINNING ATTITUDE

Regardless of how Columbians feel about Edwards, the driver knows he’ll bring the championship trophy home to Columbia eventually. “My biggest goals in auto racing are, if I can perform as a driver the way that I did this year, if we could do that for the next few years, we could win a couple of championships,” Edwards says.

Edwards Sr. says the same thing about his son. His hope for his son in the next five years, he says, is “that he wins five championships.”

While being a champion has been his dream ever since Edwards was a young child, he’s learned along the way that championships aren’t everything.

“I feel that I’ve learned over the last 10 years or so to place my feeling of accomplishment and the way I see myself and the way I see my performances more on my effort and how I perform than my results,” Edwards says.

Edwards reiterates how much he loves Columbia and how much he appreciates everyone’s support.

“I’m proud to be from Columbia. I’m proud of my roots,” Edwards says. “The people here are just amazing. I cannot thank everyone enough for their support.”

He may not have won the championship last year, and there may not be a sign along the highway, but Edwards has shown Columbia and the nation that sometimes tangible things aren’t what’s important. Sometimes the road to the finish line is what matters.

“You grow up thinking you’ve got to win and winning’s everything,” Edwards says, “but the performance is what it’s about.”

3 months ago View high resolution

Summer of Art

I live in Columbia, Mo., a college town in the Midwest. The college students keep it busier than normal during the school year, but in the summer, Columbia is a like a whole new city. It’s quieter and quirkier and there’s plenty of festivals and outdoor concerts to go to. I wrote a feature about all the fun events for the summer of 2011. Read the story here, or read it below.

A Walk In The Park

Columbia Art League’s Art In The Park Turns 53

By Haley Adams

For 20-year Columbia resident Tom Stauder, Art in the Park is an event he never misses. He’s always liked to see the artsy side of the city because, as a Columbia College accounting professor and former auditor, he’s a math guy.

“With me, as a looker and a small-time buyer, it encapsulated what I didn’t think I was,” Stauder says. “I never thought of myself as an artist.”

But then Stauder discovered woodworking and decided to build furniture for his new house. He next learned how to make bowls and vases and wanted to start selling them. He thought of Art in the Park.

This will be Stauder’s fourth year at the show. He still can’t believe he’s a part of what he once simply observed.

“I walked around just thinking ‘Wow, it’s so great Columbia has this kind of talent,’ ” Stauder says. “And then I discovered something in myself, that I could do it too.”

Stauder could be called both artist and community supporter, two groups of people that have been coming to Art in the Park for 52 years. The show, which happens every first weekend in June at Stephens Lake Park, and attracts about 20,000 visitors each year, is the biggest fundraiser for the Columbia Art League, a nonprofit community organization.

CAL Executive Director Diana Moxon says she sees Art in the Park as an extension of the CAL, and a way for everyone to enjoy the visual arts, even those intimidated by walking into a gallery.

“They realize art can be a ceramic mug, a beautiful pair of earrings or a great scarf,” Moxon says. “It isn’t only paintings you might see in a gallery and think, ‘I don’t really understand what the artist is trying to say.’ ”

The show features a wide range of artists. All must apply for a spot, and are juried on their work quality, statement of intent and uniqueness. About 180 artists applied for the 110 spots that were selected in February.

While artists such as Kansas City resident Belinda Riley like the high quality of the show, another reason so many artists travel to Art in the Park is because their work sells here. Riley attends 25 to 28 shows each year with her custom pet sculptures. She’s been to festivals around the country, she says, and she’s noticed a lot of success in college towns.

“I’ve found that in cities the size of Columbia, the people get behind it and support it,” Riley says. “When you get to a bigger city, you lose that sense of community. They’re too diversified and too spread out.”

She also says the festivals are not as unique in metropolitan areas.

“In Florida and in Chicago, there is a similar event going on at least twice a month,” Riley says. “It gets too saturated, and it’s not as special.”

Moxon has also heard from artists that Columbia has a very good art-buying public, and visitors don’t need thousands of dollars to find something special.

“You can come with $25 and go home with something really beautiful,” Moxon says. “Of course if you want to buy a beautiful painting for your home or office, then you can find that, too.”

Art in the Park is also a popular place for kids. Moxon says exposing them to art is the only way to continue the success of the CAL and the popularity of the festival because if the youth don’t get excited about it now, there will be no one to continue it in the future.

“CAL and Art in the Park belong to the community,” Moxon says. “I always say that I’m only looking after it until the next person comes along, and the next person who comes along needs to be from the next generation of young artists. You have to get people involved and passionate about an organization young, or there’s no one to take it over.”

To get their attention, certain parts of the art festival are dedicated to kids. One new area this year is the Young Collectors Tent, where small pieces of art are $5 or less. Kids can make a small art purchase, then go talk to the artist.

Another section, the Emerging Artists Pavilion is returning for the second year to showcase art from high school and college students in Boone County. A student jury decides what pieces go in the tent, and Moxon says it is a good opportunity for young artists to show their work since they might not have enough pieces to have their own tent.

But for whatever reason artists, visitors and kids come to Art in the Park, Moxon says, they’re sure to find something they like. “It doesn’t matter whether you understand art or not,” she says. “Whether it’s a painting that catches your eye, a photograph you fall in love with or a wooden bowl you can’t live without, there’s really something for everybody.”

Even if you like math.

4 months ago

I didn’t do college the traditional way because I did it in three and a half years, spending my last semester in Paris. While I missed college and Bloomington, Ind. dearly while I was in France, spending a semester in Paris was unlike any other experience I have ever had.

One thing I was worried about before I decided to study abroad was food. Of course Paris is known for its amazing cuisine, but that made me nervous because I was an extremely picky eater. I decided to blog about my experiences as a picky eater in the City of Food on a blog, The Picky Eater’s Guide to Paris.

I have also written two stories about my Parisian adventures for Do It While You’re Young, a blog for young travelers. Read my posts about getting a haircut in Paris and how to do Cannes on a budget.

4 months ago View high resolution

Truck Stop Missouri

This was my first cover story for Inside Columbia magazine. The Travel Channel had an idea to set a reality show at truck stop, and the producers chose Midway Travel Plaza in Columbia, where I live and work. I wrote the story for our July 2011 issue. Read it here or read it below. (Cover by Inside Columbia magazine)

Midway Travel Plaza Featured In Reality Show

By Haley Adams

It seems like an uneventful June Tuesday at the Midway Travel Plaza. There’s some low chatter from customers in the convenience store and the restaurant, but it’s quiet and calm and just what you’d expect after pulling off the highway for a bathroom break.

But take about 30 steps to the right, and the normalcy stops. First, there’s a film crew. They’re taking a break to eat lunch, but some continue to talk about plans for the rest of the day. Others mention the upcoming Willie Nelson concert, which is three days away, according to a sign outside.

Just beyond the film crew, a room has been taken over by a photographer and his green screen. He enthusiastically directs a woman in a Midway shirt, telling her which way to stand, which prop to use and which face to make. The photographer needs variety because the photos are going to be used for promotional materials.

Uneventful? Hardly. This is beginning to look like what the CoMo rumor mill has been reporting for months: a reality TV show has come to town.

TALKING WITH THE TRAVEL CHANNEL

Even before the film crew showed up, the Midway Travel Plaza has never been average. With 12 businesses on the property, a traveler could leave with a tattoo, a pair of cowboy boots and some fireworks, all before getting back on Interstate 70.

It’s this uniqueness that led the Travel Channel to choose the location to be the setting of its new show, “Truck Stop Missouri.” From the producers behind “Pawn Stars,” the surprise History Channel hit that became one of cable’s top-rated programs, the show follows the lives of the truck stop employees and the people they serve.

It started with a phone call. The show’s production company, Leftfield Pictures, called Midway owner Joe Bechtold to tell him they were thinking about doing a reality show.

At first, Bechtold was skeptical. He thought the random phone call “threw up some red flags.” But after he did some research and learned about the producers’ history, he changed his mind. The fact that the show would be on the Travel Channel was another perk.

“When you’re in the business of serving travelers, you tend to listen pretty closely,” Bechtold says.

So he considered it. He wasn’t a big TV watcher, let alone a reality fan — he thinks he’s the “only human being that hasn’t seen ‘Pawn Stars,’ ” — but he talked to his employees about what they thought, and they liked the idea. That same week, the Travel Channel interviewed Midway managers over the phone.

The network then wanted to see the truck stop and its people, so Bechtold asked a University of Missouri student to help them make a video to showcase the business.

“At that point, it was my understanding they were interviewing around the country for a truck stop,” Bechtold says. “We sent that off and, frankly, I didn’t think I’d ever hear back.”

But he did, and the Travel Channel had good news. Stone Roberts, one of the executive producers of the show, says they were looking for a specific type of truck stop, and they found it with Midway.

“We searched far and wide,” Roberts says. “Midway was the diamond in the rough we thought would be out there.”

And anyone who’s ever been to Midway will understand why Roberts thinks it’s an interesting place. The Travel Channel’s press release for the show calls it a “playground for truckers and tourists.” The multiple businesses on the property include a tattoo shop, an antique mall, a restaurant, a hotel, a lounge, an expo center, a fireworks store and a boots store.

But even with the multiple activities that go on at Midway, another element that attracted the show’s producers is the variety of clientele the truck stop attracts. There are the locals who come to socialize and have a meal, the truckers who fuel up and sleep, and the random travelers who stumble upon it on as they drive across the state.

“Everything it offers begs for great stories and great characters to emerge,” Roberts says.

THE SHOW WITH JOE

One of those characters is Bechtold, who is quite busy on this Tuesday afternoon. He sits in a chair while crewmembers move memorabilia around his office. They’re trying to get the perfect set for an interview spot, so one crewmember gives feedback about what looks best. Bechtold’s iPhone rings a lot, and he sometimes leaves the room to talk, but he always returns to help with the setup.

Even one of the crewmembers comments on how accommodating Bechtold is as he waits through the tedious process. “Joe is very patient,” she says. “He’s wonderful.”

Bechtold is the host of “Truck Stop Missouri,” a role, he says, that is like adding another part-time job. He is filmed about four hours a day, all while trying to accomplish the tasks that come with being the general manager of the super plaza.

But he doesn’t seem bothered. He’s easygoing, happy and friendly. And while some might be skeptical about a truck stop representing Columbia on a national scale, Bechtold is just the guy to do it.

He’s a Columbia native, a Hickman High School and Mizzou grad, whose family has owned the Midway truck stop since he was in junior high school. His wife is from Australia, and he’s spent some time there, but he returned to Columbia to run the family business. Fit and attractive, he doesn’t seem like the redneck stereotype an outsider might associate with a show called “Truck Stop Missouri.”

And he’s just plain nice. He holds the door for the whole crew when they go upstairs. He tells a woman in his office she “looks nice today.” He offers to move accessories in his office when they’re interfering with a shot.

The show’s producers saw Bechtold’s charm when they were searching for the perfect truck stop, and that’s one of the reasons the Travel Channel chose Midway. “He’s a golden character,” Roberts says. “He’s a gem everyone instantly fell in love with.”

But Bechtold isn’t the only character involved in the show. Staff members, from the tattoo artist to the bar manager, all play a part in illustrating the daily functions of the truck stop. The program also features the truck stop’s customers, who provide colorful storylines, as seen in a preview for the program. One scene shows Moya, a St. Louis woman who is meeting up with Roger, a pig owner from Kansas. She’s looking to buy a pet for her children. Roger tells her it might bite them and she should eat it instead.

Another scene shows Mia from Bacon, Mo., who has been set up on a blind date. It doesn’t go well. She’s not too impressed when her date invites her back to the “truck stop motel.”

While Roberts says he chooses not to speak on the full details of the casting process, he says characters like these are another reason the Travel Channel chose Midway.

“It’s kind of a snapshot of the bread basket of America,” he says.

But he adds the show is really about how Midway employees serve this variety of customers.

“Joe is there for all those different people,” Roberts says. “Joe and his staff, which is kind of like a small family, are there to service them in a genuine way. That dedication and service really shine in this program.”

REALLY REALITY?

But despite the Midwestern charm the producers are hoping comes through in the show, it’s easy to doubt the genuineness of any reality program. How can anything be real life when a film crew is tracking it?

Bechtold says scenes aren’t set up for “Truck Stop Missouri,” and the crew, instead, follows him around. A lot, he adds.

On this particular afternoon, the shoot schedule is decided by Bechtold’s plans. One crewmember asks him where he’s going next. He tells them he’s going to give the lagoon report to a co-worker, so the crew gets ready to film it. They shoot the short walk from his desk to her desk, and then ask him to continue the conversation.

When the short talk is over, Bechtold announces, “I’ll be in the c-store.”

“Let’s follow him to the c-store,” says a crewmember to the others, and they do. The next shooting spot takes place in front of the cash register.

The shooting seems to follow Bechtold’s real life. Even though his life this afternoon is often interrupted with questions about what he’s going to do and whom he’s going to talk to, it seems like business as usual.

There have been instances on Facebook, however, that lead followers to believe some scenes might planned in advance. Under The Gun Tattoos, Midway’s tattoo parlor, posted on its Facebook page in May that the show was looking for someone to be in an upcoming episode.

“Reality TV show is now seeking out talent to be filmed at the Midway Travel Plaza for Under the Gun Tattoos,” the post says. “Seeking out young females who haven’t been tattooed, but are willing to receive their first on TV.”

Five people comment on the post, then Under the Gun Tattoos responds, “The producers are looking for someone who has never had a tattoo so the filming will be the actual experience of getting inked for the first time.”

Another post on the business’s page pushes for people to attend an upcoming auction. “Needing anyone who can make it to come out and make as much noise as possible when the auction starts,” the post reads. “Everyone who attends can be seen on the upcoming reality show.”

But even though the characters and the crew appear to have some ideas about what they want to showcase on the program, it’s still an accurate reflection of what goes on at Midway.

And it makes sense that the Midway staff and the crewmembers want it to look good. While plenty of reality shows have failed in the past, if “Truck Stop Missouri” follows the patterns of the more successful reality shows focused on quirky establishments, business will go up. For example, the tattoo parlor where TLC’s “Miami Ink” was filmed has been called one of the most photographed tourist attractions in South Beach.

The Las Vegas family-run pawn shop featured in “Pawn Stars” saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in business after the show debuted, the store’s owner told The New York Times in 2010. Business Week reported the pawn shop went from 100 customers per day to a 1,000 per day following the show’s success.

Bechtold says he has already seen a small increase in business since news of the reality show spread. He thinks more people will be curious about the truck stop when the show airs and he hopes it brings in more business.

Amy Schneider, the interim director at the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the attention is good for all of Columbia. She calls it “earned media,” exposure the city doesn’t have to buy.

“Anytime we can get this kind of national exposure, we are excited about it,” Schneider says.

PREPARING FOR THE PREMIERE

There’s no way of telling how successful “Truck Stop Missouri” will be until it debuts later this month, but Roberts is hopeful it will continue past the 13 episodes already scheduled. “We feel like it’s going to be a wonderful success,” he says.

Bechtold thinks locals and out-of-towners will be “blown away” by the show. He’s only seen bits and pieces of it, and he won’t see any episodes before they air, but he’s enjoyed the experience so far, and he hopes the nation, and Columbians, like it.

If nothing else, Midway is planning something for the premiere.

“We will do something,” he says. “I don’t know what, but it will be on a large scale. We do pretty big events.”

This is, after all, no ordinary truck stop.

4 months ago

I wrote this story about Meredith Miles, a girl I went to high school with who is now on Broadway. Read it here, or read it below.

A Star Is Born

By Haley Adams

She had been in New York for three months when Meredith Miles heard about an audition. The Columbia native and Rock Bridge High School alum had been living in the city and working as an extra on a dance movie called “Black Swan.”

But like others in the dance community, Miles was excited about the potential of this particular audition. It was a new Broadway dance musical with two huge names attached: legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp and famous crooner Frank Sinatra. Tharp had gained success with the popular dance musical based on the music of Billy Joel, “Movin’ Out”; her new project was a similar concept, but with the songs of Sinatra.

Miles wanted a part so her agent tried to get her into an invited call, but there was one problem. “Twyla doesn’t want to see anyone younger than 30,” her agent told her.

But 20-year-old Miles had a feeling.

Miles started dancing at age 3 when her mother, Heidi Miles, enrolled her at Dancearts. It was what all the other little girls were doing, her mother says, and little Meredith loved it.

“She did like dancing and being in front of people from the get-go,” Heidi says. “You could tell. She had a spark.”

Jen Lee, Miles’ former dance teacher and the current competition director at Columbia Performing Arts Centre, first met Miles when the prodigious young dancer was 7 and a star in dance classes. “She was like a little sponge,” Lee says. “She took in everything that we said and applied it.”

When Nancy Laurie opened CPAC in 1999, and some instructors from Dancearts moved to the new studio, Miles followed. She then joined CPAC’s competition team and started getting serious about dance. She dedicated her time to it whether it was dance classes after school, competitions over the weekend or dance programs during the summer.

Lee says the effort young Miles put into her dancing made her a standout.

“She’d always act like she was on the stage,” Lee says. “No matter what she was doing, she would always do it full out. Even when she was by herself, that’s probably how she did it.”

Miles’ passion for dance continued as she got older; when friends started planning for high school and life after graduation, Miles decided to take a different path. “When I had to think about if I was going to get serious about academics or dance, I chose dance,” she says.

The choice to prioritize dance over school influenced her high school years. In 2003, CPAC owner Laurie started the Cedar Lake Ensemble in New York and a second company in Columbia, which Miles joined her freshman year as the youngest dancer in the company.

With Cedar Lake and additional dance training, Miles did not follow the same track as her Rock Bridge peers. She says she had a “minimal high school experience” since she would often go to one or two classes, then leave for a private ballet lesson. She also took online courses to allow for more time in the studio.

Heidi says her daughter couldn’t do high school activities like a lot of her friends, such as the Rock Bridge dance team, the Bruin Girls, so when Miles felt left out, she reassured her.

“I told her that unique people do unique things,” Heidi says. “That’s just the price you’re going have to pay.”

Before Miles graduated from Rock Bridge, she had already spent summers at prestigious dance programs at the Joffrey Ballet School and The Juilliard School. When it was time to pick a school after high school, she chose the Alonzo King LINES BFA Program in San Francisco. She had planned to stay for four years, but she soon realized she was looking for something else. San Francisco was fun, she says, but she was craving the lessons she could only learn from professional experiences on stage, not just in the classroom.

She soon found an alternative when she attended the Netherlands Dance Theatre summer program after her sophomore year at LINES. Dancers at the program encouraged her to stay to train with the company and try out the European dance world, so she decided to take a semester off. But before she went back to the Netherlands, she decided to move to New York to continue her ballet training.

Within her first two months in New York, Miles found an agent and started booking jobs such as “Black Swan,” the dance thriller that would later gain commercial and critical success and earn star Natalie Portman both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

So it was while Miles was working on “Black Swan” that she heard about “Come Fly Away.” The show, presented first in Atlanta before it came to Broadway, was looking for one female dancer to replace an injured cast member.

Even though her agent said she was too young — 10 years too young — age had never stopped Miles before so she went to an open call. A couple hundred other girls went, too. Unlike an invited call, an open audition is harder for a dancer to get noticed, but something about Miles stuck out. Over the course of two weeks, Miles went to five auditions for the show, a hectic schedule as she was filming “Black Swan” at night and auditioning during the day.

The whirlwind schedule paid off for Miles because the call came. She made it.

“She called me the night she got it,” says Amy Trader, a friend from CPAC. “We were both bawling just because we knew that’s what she was always meant to do.”

Lee says she wasn’t surprised Miles booked something, but she was more surprised by the level of production Miles was about to join.

“I was amazed just because of her age,” Lee says. “To be in something with Twyla Tharp at her age is next to impossible.”

“Come Fly Away” opened on Broadway in March last year. Set to the songs of Sinatra, Tharp’s choreography tells the story of four couples at a nightclub. The show received strong reviews and Miles was noticed for her talent and her age; Dance Spirit magazine featured Miles as the July/August 2010 cover story, calling her “Broadway’s Baby.”

Family and friends have visited Miles to see her on stage.

“It was the craziest, most surreal thing,” Trader says. “Just knowing her for so long and growing up with her … it was cool to see her with all these professionals. And she was the star of the show. She just carried it. You could not take your eyes off her.”

Miles also got a chance to perform at the 2010 Tony Award Ceremony when “Come Fly Away” was nominated for Best Choreography. “It was quite possibly one of the most exciting on stage experiences I have had thus far as a dancer,” Miles says. “I was performing with some of the world’s most talented artists, all in one room, Radio City Music Hall.”

Miles performed on Broadway until the show closed in September. She was unemployed for a while, but soon did smaller projects, including a gig dancing with Kanye West on “Saturday Night Live.”

Miles then rejoined the original Broadway cast of “Come Fly Away” when the show moved to hotel mogul Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas resort. Renamed “Dance With Me,” Miles says the show is well received in the city and she now plays a principle role once a week.

Although a national tour of “Come Fly Away” is scheduled to start in May, Miles is unsure of her plans after the Las Vegas run ends.

Lee says she knows Miles will succeed. “She’s going to be on Broadway forever, and she’s going to win a Tony, I have no doubt. I keep telling her not to forget me when she gives her acceptance speech.”

Miles credits Lee, her family and friends, and her Columbia upbringing, for helping her get to where she is now.

“I think if anything it’s my mentality, my perspective and my work ethic,” she says. “No matter where you are, what environment or country you’re in, you have to be yourself.”

Her family taught her to be persistent, she adds. “I learned from my dad that life is how you navigate your path.”

Most dancers, she says, will hear the word “no” a hundred times before they hear a “yes,” but perseverance is what leads to success.

“There have been a few upsets in my life, a lot of ‘no’s in my life,” Miles says. “But I got a big ‘yes’ from Twyla. If you give up before your ‘yes’ comes, before your big opportunity comes, you’re never going to know.”