I started high school in fall of 2003. I was on the Cross Country and Track team. I originally just wanted to be on the track team, but once I had a trial run at the cross country team I fell in love with the sport! I initially had signed up to play flute in the marching band. When I discovered that band practice and cross country practice conflicted I made the brilliant choice to continue running and dropped band. Running became a passion for me. By the end of my first CC season I was already on the varsity team. Throughout high school my dedication to improving came and went, but I never stopped running! In track my events changed over the years. My freshman and sophmore years I ran the 3200 m and the 1600 m. My junior year I ran the 1600 m and the 800 m. My senior year I ran the 800 m. The 800 m was by far my favorite! It was the perfect combination of endurance and sprinting. Coach Wilson was the coach my first three years. My last year we had Coach Fietz who didnt really know what he was doing with a bunch of runners. Senior year, in track, I worked mostly with Coach Bueno. I have a great respect for all these coaches and the way they influenced my running success and helped reinforce the principles of dedication and commitment. My Sophmore year I was nominated to join National Junior Honor Society. This encouraged me to do more service then I would have done. My Junior and Senior years I was in PAL (Peer Assistance and Leadership). With this program we visited all the elementary schools and middle schools in town to help mentor the younger students. It was so much fun! My senior year I was the President of PAL and Cross Country co-captain. I'm don't necessarily like being in leadership positions, but this is when I realized that often leadership positions are thrust upon me and I need to take the opportunities to grow and help others.
Most kids start driving by age 16, but with track season and a whole bunch of practice I wasn't able to take driver's ed until the summer after my birthday. I wasn't a huge fan of the whole learning to drive thing but it made life so much easier not having to rely on someone else for rides. My first car was a pearly white and black 1992 Subaru SVX that I bought from my step grandpa, Eric. It was such a sweet car! I drove that thing until for almost 8 years. My mom appreciated me driving because that means I was responsible for getting my best friend Stephanie and me to early morning seminary.
I had two distinct groups of friends. The kids on the cross country team spent so much time together it was hard not to love them! We had dance parties in the locker room, pranks, sleep overs, and donut runs. Some of the girls on the team were Katie Stokes, Laura Dibari, Laura Evans, Brittany Johansan, Johna Green, and Leah Mitchell. My other group of friends were church people. Our bishop called us "the posse". We spent countless Saturdays playing games, going to the park, and watching movies. Some of the people in this group include Stephanie Tracy, Kirsten Hauth, Zack Jabillo, Anne Jackson, Stacey Harkey, Jonathan Colegrove, and Skyler Hair.
I have always loved going to school. In high school I loved that I was able to dictate (somewhat) my schedule. I love learning new things and enjoyed taking some AP classes to actually make it a little challenging. There are 2 distinct things I did not like about school. I hated talking in front of others. In one class we did Socratic seminars where we had to take the initiative to speak up in a conversation. I am pretty sure that is the only thing I ever got a 0 on because as soon as I would get up the nerve to talk someone else would butt in. The other thing I disliked was group work. I never felt like the work was evenly distributed and since I wanted to do well I would end up doing most if not all of the work.
I had a lot of jobs during high school. Before high school I referred soccer every Saturday. I started as a linesman and worked to become a center ref for the 5 and 6 year old soccer teams. In high school I worked as a birthday party hostess/face painter at Hawaiian Falls, a party hostess at Strikes bowling alley, a "chef" at Super Suppers, and a pizza maker/cashier at Papa Murphy's.
Between work, school, and church I had a lot of responsibilities. Life was busy, but there were still little things at home I had to do. I was responsible for my own area of the house. I had to do my own laundry, clean my room, and clean my bathroom. I wasn't always the best at keeping my room and bathroom clean. Luckily I got better with time.
Lots of people say they would love to go back and relive high school. While I loved my high school experience, moving onto college was even better!
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