2021_Senior_Special_Issue

10 Yellow Springs High School C L A S S O F 2 0 2 1 A Special Section of the YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS | May 20, 2021 Yellow Springs Board of Education Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce Yellow Springs Chiropractic high school. The most valuable skills I learned through my education at Yellow Springs are how to be an ef fective communicator and how to work in group settings. The school provides students with an environment where we feel comfortable enough to take part in a free exchange of ideas and to listen to one another. Even as princi- pals, vice-principals, superintendents, teachers, janitors, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers have come and gone, the emphasis on developing and honing these skills has remained. I believe the most valuable asset the school district has is its staff. Every day I am blown away by the dedication and kindheartedness of every person in the building. When my mother was going through treatment for her thy- roid cancer, they inundated me with support. Ms. Holly, for one, brought me homemade chicken noodle soup and was very understanding of my situation both in and out of class. I could go on and on about these amaz- ing people: Mr. Day and his dedication to both School Forest and making his class- room a fun and engaging environ- ment; Ms. Eguaroje and our friendly banter that makes me laugh every day; Mr. Lowry and his bottomless pit of knowledge; Ms. Lutz and her enor- mous heart; Mr. Lydy and the way he timed his lectures down to the second; Ms. Nickell and how she took time out of her schedule to work on the School Facilities Task Force (where I wit- nessed her dedication to her students and the community); Ms. Morrison and her teaching style that made math fun; Ms. Lohmeyer and her ability to foster an environment where students feel comfor table to be themselves; Ms. Materne and her personality that makes me laugh as well as her perse- verance through a very hard year; Mr. Sidner and his unconventional teach- ing style that made learning Spanish effortless and fun (along with his eye- catching classroom decorations). These are just some of the amazing teachers that I have had the pleasure of knowing during high school. They made school a better place to be; a place that I didn’t dread visiting. Many more amazing teachers/staf f not listed above have helped me along the way, and I am very grateful for their support. The only aspect of the Yellow Springs school district that I would change is the poor condition of the school facilities. The schools have amazing people on the inside. They need a modern 21st-century learn- ing environment to foster even more growth and learning that reflects the community’s educational values. My plans for the next couple of years are to prepare for a life beyond the Yellow Springs bubble. I will attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. this fall as a rising freshman. I plan to major in Human & Organi- zational Development and minor in business and/or political science. While living in a large Southern city will be a change for me, coming from a small town in the Midwest, I am sure the experience will make me a more well-rounded individual prepared to explore the many great opportunities available in America and abroad. In 10 years, I may be a politician, business owner, entrepreneur, or but- terfly therapist. Who knows? What I know is that Yellow Springs holds a special place in my heart and that I will be around in one way or another. The amazing people in this community and the love of my family will keep calling me back. My family is my rock and I couldn’t have made it through life without them. Cousins, grandparents, my sister, my father, and especially my mother, who has overcome so many obstacles and is a role model to me each and every day. She keeps her chin up and always takes the high road. Now that I have lived in Yellow Springs for over six years, I feel as if I am now a true member of the commu- nity. Since I was able to join the Yellow Springs Community Facebook page, I believe that my assertion is correct. And yes, I do now drive a Subaru Out- back. LUCAS SHIRES No response submitted. GALEN SIECK PARENTS/GUARDIANS: Cindy Sieck, Winston Sieck, Louise Rasmussen I’ve lived in Yellow Springs for almost my entire life. It is a great com- munity to grow up in. Despite its small size, it is filled with opportunities and experiences. The fact that you can easily walk everywhere and that we are surrounded by great forests and other parks is invaluable, and I am very happy to have grown up with that. Like our community, our schools also offer a range of unique and mean- ingful experiences. My favorite has been the engineering classes taught by Mr. Bleything. As someone who plans to go into engineering after grad- uation, I really like that I was able to learn skills that will help me in college and in life while still in high school. Also like our community, our school system is small. While this may mean we can’t offer as many classes as large high schools, it does give us students an opportunity to form strong relation- ships with our teachers. I can remem- ber many discussions, course-related and otherwise, with Mr. Smith in French class or Mr. Lydy in his social studies classes, for instance. These relationships not only make learning better, but make our school experi- ences more fun and rewarding. Another area where I think our schools do a great job offering experi- ences is through extracurricular activ- ities. Specifically, I am very thankful that I got to participate in our speech and debate team for all four years. Speech and debate is a really fun and rewarding activity and having a team of our quality is rare for a school our size. I’d like to thank our coach, Brian Housh, for making that possible and O U R S P O N S O R S for hours of interesting cross examina- tion. As for my plans, over the next couple of years, I am planning to study aero- space engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall. All in all, I would say it’s been a great experience growing up in YS, and I thank my teachers, family and dogs for making it meaningful, and preparing me to enter college and the rest of my life in a unique and exciting way. SHAYLEE SMITH PARENTS/GUARDIANS: Shirley Smith Growing up in Yellow Springs, I loved the community feeling. Every- one in town is committed to your suc- cess even if they don’t know you. In August I will be attending Nor- wich University in Northfield, Vt. I am an undeclared major leaning towards nursing. My end goal is either to be a pediatrician or a pediatric nurse prac- titioner. At NU, I will be on the women’s soccer team and a part of the army corps of cadets.