Maybe you’ve seen her around school, during your passing periods, in classes you might have with her or during sporting events.
Senior Jersey Hollabaugh has lived in Altoona, Pa all her life. Growing up in Altoona, Hollabaugh met new friends, tried new things and now she has big dreams for her future.
“I hope to travel the world and experience new things. I also hope to have a career in nursing and to travel for that as well,” Hollabaugh said.
Most people in life struggle with different things. She feels that experiences her family has gone through has shaped her into the type of person she is today. Hollabaugh feels that people tend to see her differently after they get to know who she is.
“Some might think that I can come off as an intimidating person, but in reality, when you come up to talk to me, I’d say I’m very easy going, kind and I always keep an open mind. A lot of people don’t recognize that I’m a very easy person to talk to when it comes to different things, but after they talk to me for a little bit they start to realize that,” Hollabaugh said. “A quality that I don’t like about myself is the fact that I’m a procrastinator, and I don’t like to do my school work. That is a problem for me because of what I want to do in the future.”
Some of Hollabaugh’s closest friends attend AAHS and while some have graduated. Although she likes having a big friend group, she values close and personal connections with her good friends.
“When making new friends, I tend to observe how they are and how they talk about people. I notice that those who immediately start talking bad about other people are ones that don’t turn out to be a great friend or a great person. That is one of the biggest red flags I have when it comes to meeting new people. Some of my close friends would be Aleah Layton, Kara Feaster, Jaiden Krull, Abbie Herncane and more, but those are my closest friends that I have,” Hollabaugh said. “I met Aleah in my Intro to Pub class freshman year, and we just started hanging out. With Kara, we actually met through a trio friendship we were in, but that didn’t work out. We stuck with each other and became really close friends. Abbie and I got really close two years ago because of basketball, and we’ve become closer ever since.”
While everyone grows up wanting to have different careers and changing their mind throughout life, Hollabaugh is set on what she wants to do after graduating high school. During her freshman year, she started taking Rebecca Skebeck’s classes. These courses are year long and there are medical portions students can take until senior year. She has five different courses that you could choose from and Hollabaugh took as many as she could. (medical interventions, human body systems, human systems and diseases, and principles of biomedical science.)
“When I started taking Skebeck’s courses my freshman year, I started an interest in the nursing career. I didn’t think much of it and had other interests, but as I kept taking her courses year after year my passion for nursing had developed more by the time I became a senior,” Hollabaugh said. “Choosing what college you want to go to can be difficult, but with the major I chose I decided to either go to Mount Aloysius, Penn State Main or Penn State Altoona. As of right now I am still undecided, but I’m most likely going to go to Mount Aloysius.”
Hollabaugh talks about her future lifestyle with her current boyfriend who she sees a future with.
“I’m leaning towards going to Mount Aloysius because I would become an LPN (licensed practical nurse.) I would only have to attend there for two years and then complete online courses while working for UPMC for five years. After that, I hope to become a travel nurse. What I would do is travel somewhere for at least two weeks and then have an entire month where I can travel to different places or stay local,” Hollabaugh said. “During my career, I hope to be able to settle down in a nice area in Pa and to have a nice family with my current boyfriend, Dominic Dunio. I would like to be able to save money to provide for my kids, my family and to have a stable life.”
Hollabaugh has a dream lifestyle she hopes she will achieve in the near future. As of right now, she is on her way to getting her high school diploma. After that, she will attend college to pursue her future career and to further her education as well.
