As a senior, do you feel any different now that it’s your last year? Does anything feel weird?

I think my experience as a senior is pretty similar to everyone else’s: I’m ready to be done, I’m ready to move on. When I turned eighteen, my mindset changed. I’m an adult now, so I have to act like an adult. Things I care about have changed. Since, like obviously freshman year, but even junior year. I care about different things now. Things that benefit my life as a person. 

Are you enjoying your senior year though?

It’s only the beginning, so far no. I feel more anti-social than in previous years. I don’t really wanna go to football games, I don’t wanna go to volleyball games. In previous years, I would have so much fun going. But now, I’m like, nah, I’d rather stay home and nap. 

That shift: was [it] because you became an adult or is it just because your priorities shifted this year?

I think my priorities have changed. The fact that I’m going to school with fourteen-year-olds as I’m eighteen has like changed my perspective on things – like I can notice the maturity differences. Even with sixteen-year-olds, I can notice the maturity differences. I don’t know why, ’cause it’s not like anything over the summer really changed, I just feel different. 

Well, I did notice you joined choir. How is that going? What is your experience so far?

I love choir, it’s so fun. Obviously, it’s a learning curve for me because I’ve never been a musical type. I’ve never had any sort of musical lessons. I want to sing along with other people, and I’m like, no, I have to sing my part of the song. I don’t know what to sing, and I can’t read music, so I’m going off of just remembering. [Fantozzi is] perfect, so I’m not really great with super high energy teachers, so I think he does a great job including everyone and being a teacher for everyone and not just specific students. I really like him and he’s encouraging, and you know, he’s like you have to work on this, but you’re doing a good job. Even if it’s not quite there yet. And I like how he tells us stories about his life, ’cause that makes him more personable. 

What sport or sports do you play?

Currently, I do cross country and track. I used to do basketball and soccer; I did basketball up until my junior year. 

How long have you been on the cross-country team?

I’ve only been on there for two years. I discovered that I like running more than basketball – that’s also part of why I quit basketball.

So you really like rocketed to being captain fast. 

I already kind of knew the girls, well not the girls, but my co-captain, Leah Nika. She and I have been friends. We met through cross, but she and I became friends pretty quickly. I think my friendship with her showed the coaches that her and I are similar. You know she’s responsible, she’s got great leadership skills and she’s a great athlete and student. My association with her has shown the coaches that I have the potential too. As I grew more comfortable with the girls on the team, I became a leader, in just natural ways, because a lot of the girls are younger. 

So as the captain do you feel responsible for the younger runners?

Yes! Leah and I talked about how we feel like mothers, and we have like our little ducklings. So, for some of our workouts we have long runs so we have to run like seven miles or like half of seven miles away from the school. We have to make sure that everyone is safe, sometimes the coaches aren’t always with us, so we have to make sure that everyone is okay. And in that sense, it feels like I’m responsible for their safety and it also feels like I’m responsible for their encouragement; if they’re having a hard day, I have to encourage them, even if I’m also having a hard day. 

The cross country team is such a close knit group of girls, and like even if there are groups that form, but there are no cliques. There are groups that form, but everyone can talk to each other and feel comfortable. As a newbie, I didn’t feel excluded, and now as captains, Leah and I try to make sure that everyone feels comfortable being themselves. 

So why cross country, why did you choose to join cross country as one of your main sports?

My friend – she’s already graduated and going to Purdue University, Sofia Schumann – she had done cross country for her two years, three years, I think. She took me to the practices and meetings, and we were gonna be managers for the team. But I ran with the girls, I went to practices and went to the meets. And also, I’m dating Connor Zentner, and he did cross country since, like, fourth grade. And his experience with cross influenced my potential experience at the time. He loves it, I loved the girls. I was a manager: I knew them, and the coaches were like, “You’re a really good runner, you should run.” It was one of the best decisions I’ve made in high school. 

Okay, so finally, what are your plans after high school? It’s fine if you don’t have your whole life planned out, but like what is the vague direction you’re going?

I’m planning on going to a school called Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. It’s a smaller school, but it’s a business-based school, and my mom works there, so I get free tuition which is pretty awesome. My goal is to get a degree in marketing and business type stuff. And then I can create a business that helps homeless people. And this has been a goal of mine, since I was really young. There are people that help homeless people, but I want to help like long-term. Long-term support, like emotional, financial, housing support. Things like that, not just here’s a meal for tonight, here’s shelter for tonight. I’m thinking like five years, or as long as someone needs to get back on their feet. 

And why is this such a passion of yours?

One of my main ideas for a potential business is education, because the ways that people fall into homelessness is lack of opportunities or lack of experience or support. Not only psychologically, but education can really benefit people, and so throughout my life, I’ve learned a lot about biases in media and not being completely educated on all sides. I wanna give the opportunity to other people to not have biases and learn things they’ve never learned before. I’m not a smart person, but I wanna be smarter: in my life, I’ve never been the smartest person in the class, I’ve always had to put in extra work to learn stuff, and before, I was always like that’s so annoying and I hate it. And when I started dating Connor, he’s really smart and he’s taught me stuff, and I’ve been able to accept myself and I have my own things. That’s an opportunity that I’ve been able to have, and I want other people to have those experiences too.