Q: Is there a quote that motivates you? 

A: “This isn’t a quote, but it’s a book by Maya Angelou called ‘Phenomenal’. The book motivates me because she speaks about women and uses powerful words.”

Q: What made you want to be a Horseshoe student?

A: “I like the design aspect of the yearbook, and I like taking pictures. So being in the yearbook only made sense.”

Q: Is there a design for the yearbook you want to do?

A:  “There’s a bunch of designs that I want to do. We have templates that are pre-made, and I don’t use them. I always create my own template, and I feel like when I create my own template, I have creative freedom.”

Q: Has there been a time in school where you were proud of yourself?

A: “Yeah, when I got accepted into the ambassador program.”

Q: What is the ambassador program?

A: “The ambassador program is six students per grade level that are basically the face of the school.  We represent the school whenever we go out to events that needs Altoona representation. And then we have polos and cute little name tags.”

Q: What do you want to write about most in the future?

A: “Personally, I want to write about all my challenges and struggles with mental health throughout school and during school. School wise, I think I would want to write most about the school rules that we have.”

Q: What rules do you not like?

A: “The strict dress code, along with cell phone usage.”

Q: What’s the most difficult part about being in the yearbook room?

A: “I wouldn’t say asking for help because everyone’s super helpful. I’d say meeting deadlines and finding people.”

Q: What do you aspire to have accomplished by the time you graduate?

A: “In general, I want to finish my senior year off really strong, even though I won’t have to be here the entire day because I’ll have enough credits to have open periods. But I want to finish my senior year off strong, and I want to give all my teachers appreciation gifts, even the ones I didn’t necessarily favor.”

Q: Is there anyone in the yearbook room who has helped you a lot this year?

A: “Everyone is such a huge, huge help in the yearbook room, but I’d say my biggest are Addisen McDonald and Colby Wendle. Colby because he’s super fun, super active and he keeps everything okay. And Addi’s down to earth, and she gives great advice about design, captions, pictures and she’s really good at that, and I’m so grateful she’s in the room with us when we do our spreads and everything.”

Q: Who is a famous person you look up to and why?

A: “I’m going to go back to the poem, and it’s Maya Angelou, because she’s a female writer, and her poems are so powerful. She has great messages that she leads people through. And I actually love that she does that, even with the challenges that she has faced, She was an African American woman and to make it so big to be known as a poet and a writer, is actually so inspiring to me because she didn’t give up after one man said,”‘Hey, you can’t do that.” And she kept pushing. And now she’s huge. She’s a huge icon.”

Q: What has been your favorite thing about being in the Horseshoe staff this year?

A:  “I like having the individuality of being able to control what goes on my spread and how I want to design it too.”

Q: What plans do you have for this year?

A: “To pass and to absolutely not croak in chemistry class. I hope to be on the yearbook staff for the rest of my high school years, but I also hope to be Editor in Chief one day. I feel like that would be a great responsibility for me to have.”