Darasha Singleton is a military-connected student. She has three veteran parents – her mother, father and stepfather. Now a graduate student studying broadcast journalism at the nation’s leading communications school, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, she’s proud Syracuse University makes veterans and their families a priority.
“When my parents brought me to Syracuse for the first time, we saw the National Veterans Resource Center building,” Darasha says. “All of us were amazed by the building and to see that it’s such a huge part of campus.”
Darasha was born at USAG Heidelberg, one of the largest American bases located in Germany. The daughter of two Army veterans and stepdaughter to a Marine veteran, she experienced many of the challenges of being a military child, like spending a lot of time away from her parents. “I didn’t do a lot of moving around like a lot of other military kids,” she says. “Both of my parents were stationed in places like Kuwait and Iraq, places that I couldn’t go with them.” While her parents were serving, Darasha lived with her grandmother and aunt until she was in second grade. “I remember when my mom would come to visit, I would try to hide in her car so I could go back with her,” she says.
In elementary school, Darasha moved to Fort Gordon, an Army base in Augusta, Georgia. She stayed there until she was in high school. “That was all I really knew. Everything was on-post, from clothing to the grocery store,” she says. “It was cool and fun because it’s a different world.”
After high school, Darasha went on to study at Clark Atlanta University and earned a degree in mass media. There, she developed her passion for entertainment news and even started her own media brand, Darasha Dee Media, where she interviews guests and artists – she even got a chance to interview Megan Thee Stallion. To continue chasing her passion for entertainment news, Darasha realized that she wanted to broaden her education in journalism.
“I had done a lot of shooting and editing on my own, but I wanted to get the true background in journalism,” she says. “Syracuse University is such a prestigious school with amazing alumni. Even on my first day of classes, I had learned so much already.”
On campus, Darasha balances her busy course load with opportunities to practice her writing and continue producing entertainment news stories. Recently, she joined the team at Newhouse Insider, a blog that shares experiences and advice from the graduate students at Newhouse. Outside of school, Darasha loves traveling and has visited countries all over the world, including China, South Africa, Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy, and she even returned to her birth country of Germany. She’s also working towards her goal of being able to speak French fluently and looking forward to visiting France again to practice.
And as a military child, Darasha feels like she is part of a special club. “I’m forever a military child,” she says. “Looking back, I see what a huge sacrifice they made on their part, for the country and for me. It’s something that is very near and dear and you don’t understand until you look back.”
