2021_Senior_Special_Issue

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 9 Tom’s Market Village Automotive The Winds Cafe CORBIN ROGERS No response submitted. EMILY RONNEBAUM No response submitted. JON GAVIN ROOP No response submitted. KAYLA ROSS PARENTS/GUARDIANS: Kathy Kern and Lou Ross I started school in Yellow Springs in the seventh grade after I moved from my hometown of Lancaster, Ohio. Being new to the community, I didn’t know anyone when I started at McKinney Middle School, but found that the students and teachers were welcoming and friendly. It was chal- lenging to start over in a new school, but the Yellow Springs schools gave me the support I needed to gain my confidence during that first year and beyond and have helped me to become the person I am today. The project- based learning utilized in the Yellow Springs schools was invaluable to me. It taught me to work with others, think outside the box, advocate for myself and work together to meet a goal. I also enjoyed doing community service and appreciate that the Yellow Springs Schools encourages students to do that type of outreach. I learned a lot from those experi- ences, especially my senior project where I designed face masks and donated the proceeds to the school. As a student, I always found the Yellow Springs Schools teachers and adminis- trators to be helpful and to care about me and my fellow students — both in the classroom as well as outside the classroom. Being mostly virtual for the end of my junior year and most of my senior year was difficult for me. I missed my friends and teachers. Although I saw them on camera, it was not the same as being in person and having daily, face- to-face interaction. I think we missed out on a lot of typical high school experiences due to the pandemic. Being allowed to play team sports this year made things better. I enjoyed par- ticipating in basketball, cheerleading and track; however, people needing to quarantine disrupted the seasons and the experience I had hoped to have this year. I am happy we can do a prom and have a graduation ceremony this year. The pandemic has taught me to be more appreciative and not take things for granted. The pandemic also allowed me to spend more time with my family, which I am grateful that I could do. I will be going to High Point Uni- versity in High Point, N.C. I will be studying communications and event management with an additional focus in media productions and entrepre- neurship. I have been selected as a HPU Presidential Fellow and a Com- munications Fellow and will also be a percussionist in their marching band. In 10 years, I hope to be a college graduate and have earned a master’s degree and have started my career. I also want to make a difference in my community. I want to thank the Yellow Springs community, my teachers and administrators. I also want to congrat- ulate my classmates, and I wish them happiness and success. IAN SHERK PARENTS/GUARDIANS: Catherine Anderson, Derek Sherk In late 2014, I moved into a farm- house outside the village of Yellow Springs. The experience was quite jarring for me, leaving the suburbs of Oakwood where I had grown up. All I knew about Yellow Springs came from visiting Street Fair, hiking in the Glen, and going to Corner Cone. When this is the entire breadth of one’s exposure to Yellow Springs, one is bound to hold many misconceptions. For example, I believed resident’s shoes were worn mainly during the winter months (to prevent hypothermia) and that one had a choice between two vehicles: a Toyota Prius or a Subaru Outback. I did not disprove these misconceptions until I finished the rest of my sixth- grade year at Oakwood. I dreaded leaving my old school and friends behind. I wavered between attend- ing STEM, Miami Valley School, and Yellow Springs. I could not make up my mind until I toured Yellow Springs. When I stepped through the school’s front doors for the first time, I knew Yellow Springs students were far from “normal.” The students dressed differently, walked differently, talked dif ferently, and were not afraid to share their opinions. However, what really clued me in was the UFO jut- ting out from the side of the school. Many love the UFO for its charm, others the acoustics. I just think it’s an architectural abomination. Love it or hate it, the UFO is quintessentially Yellow Springs. This deviation from what I perceived to be the “norm” is what drew me to Yellow Springs as a seventh-grader and is what has kept me here through my senior year in O U R S P O N S O R S