Pen travels across the paper. Guitar strings strum. Chords travel across the room in sound waves, crafting into rhythms and lyrical melodies. A new song joins the collection of 450 other songs written by freshman Noelle McSpadden.

After writing songs for more than three years, McSpadden has found her voice in the pop genre, often backed with her acoustic guitar.

“I love writing songs because it feels good and helps me process things, like feelings or struggles I have,” McSpadden said. “I can’t write in a diary in [the same way]. Simply writing words out doesn’t feel right. I like writing songs because there’s a connection to the story I’m writing about.”

One struggle McSpadden has dealt with is her insecurities while growing up hard-of-hearing. It can be hard to detect deafness in young children, so McSpadden was not diagnosed with moderate-to-severe hearing loss until she was a few years old. 

“[Growing up hard-of-hearing] was hard. I’ve gotten judged for it, especially in [elementary school]. I kept my hair down my whole life; I didn’t want to be judged [because of my hearing aids]. Now I’m getting used to putting my hair up,” McSpadden said. “One of my other songs asks God to heal the hearing loss. In the last verse, I wrote, ‘why can You not heal me?’ because I don’t understand that.”

McSpadden began to gain confidence in herself through writing music. She discovered her love for songwriting through singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin’s music, specifically through the song “Mind is a Prison.” 

“His music is relatable to me. I want to express myself [through my music] the same way he does,” McSpadden said. “Sometimes I watch his videos and want to go through the same [process] he did, learning to play guitar and sing in high school.”