Photo and story by Janesha Bryant
In 2006, at age 5, Jaliyah Armon was in a car accident with her father. She was burned on the face, and trauma to her head has caused many migraines since.
“I was frightened, but as soon as I woke up, I still focused on my food that I was thinking about and wanting before this tragic accident,” Armon says.
Then in 2010, at age 9, Armon didn’t listen to her father when he told her to not to play in the street, and a car hit her while she was riding her friend’s scooter.
“I was scared and feeling a lot of regret because my dad told me not to ride my friend’s scooter, but I did anyways. Yet, I didn’t feel anything, though,” she says. Her only injuries were on her lower leg.
Now whenever Armon thinks back to the accidents, they remind her not to take life for granted. Since that early trauma, she has also realized the importance of letting go of the past in order to move on in life’s in the present. Now 17 and a senior at Callaway High School, she knows she must really believe in herself and understand how to be truly happy with herself.
Armon is the first person in her family who wants to become a journalist to report on the fashion industry. She likes to dance, watch movies, write stories and edit videos in her spare time. “Making my family proud is one of the biggest reasons why I want to do fashion,” she says.
While Armon is shy toward things in the beginning, but she warms up the more she understands the things going on around her. She is the type of person who is not necessarily social, but likes to be around her family and really loves music. She relates to many things, and can be both pessimistic and optimistic because she overthinks a lot of things. This causes her to be unlike herself and become very emotional.
The things that have changed her life were K-pop and meeting positive people in the fandom of the South Korean boy band, Seventeen. [LINK: especially the fandom she’s in: Carats, the fans] Through the band’s fandom, called Carats, Armon realized she has a passion for dancing.
“I feel good about forming my own dance team, but I also don’t because of the disagreements and misunderstandings, my group slowly fell apart,” she says.
She was very close to her grandfather, who passed in 2013. One thing she loves and remembers about her grandfather is his wisdom.
Armon is a rising junior at Callaway High School.
