Most students like to coast through school. Some play a sport or two, or take an AP class to get ahead. But there are a few individuals who like to be involved and challenge themselves, three sport athletes who take hard classes and go out for musicals and other extracurriculars.

Aspen Walsh likes being in volleyball because she can stay in shape and be part of a team; which is similar to what Connor McKillip said. Connor likes being in football because it’s his favorite sport; he has always loved it and likes being part of a team. He finds being in football isn’t that time-consuming, probably because he only has to play one game a week and practice is always on the same days. On the other hand, Aspen says volleyball is one of her most time-consuming activities.

Both Connor and Aspen are involved in the musical; they both have significant parts as well. Connor plays the King and Aspen is Cinderella, the main lead. Most nights, they will have time to go home for a few minutes after sports practice and then come right back to school for musical practice. Most nights, practice is from 7-9 and then they will have to use their remaining time to get all of their homework/chores done, and then they repeat.

Along with all these activities, they both have important classes that they are enrolled in. According to Aspen, “these classes are extremely hard.” She has Calculus and Environmental Science for AP classes, and through Southwest Tech she has Psychology and Speech to worry about. Of all of these classes, she says her hardest classes are either Calculus or Psychology. Connor, on the other hand, has two AP classes: AP computer science and AP Calculus. He says his hardest non-AP class is Journalism because he has a lot of work to do.

They are taking these classes for a multitude of reasons. Connor is taking his AP classes for what he’s planning on doing after college. He’s taking AP Calc so he won’t have to take it in college and he’s taking AP Computer Science because that’s one of the subjects he would consider majoring in at college. Aspen is taking her classes “to hopefully get credit for college classes.” She really likes environmental science because of the plants, but she doesn’t like Calc because it is very difficult, but she does really like both of her AP teachers.

Being involved in these classes and activities really have their benefits, but it is also very hard on the students; some of them have strung themselves out too much. Aspen told me that it is difficult to be involved because she gives up her free time and only gets to sleep six or seven hours most nights. She doesn’t get to hang out with friends as much, and is always finding time for homework, and that takes discipline to do “because I like to put it off”. At this point, working isn’t even an option, which is why Aspen is happy that she still has some gas money left. Connor says his life would be healthier if he wasn’t so involved. He feels that he doesn’t have enough free time and it’s hard for him to find time to work. Like Aspen, he has to choose between money and free time.

When students challenge themselves, they end up coming out of their situation smarter, stronger, and happier. If they keep challenging themselves, they will get more ambitious each time, doing harder and harder things. It is people like these that are able to affect the world.