Freshman Jack Gumersell has found a way to balance both school and sports. He states, “I’m passionate about baseball and soccer but for school, I’m passionate about math, history, and sometimes English.” While playing both sports, Jack has been able to uphold his grades and show his teachers his commitment and passion for his classes. He explains that he did this through, “ raising my hand, answering questions, and participating when needed.” While he was not expecting this recognition, Jack stated, “I’m proud to be a student of the month…I’m proud to be a member of the pack.”
Sophomore Sopha Pulido similarly participates in school clubs as well as her classes. She is the founder of the crochet club. For Sophia, crocheting is a newfound and fervent hobby of hers. She explored her passion and, “learned new ideas for projects and techniques for the club.” Additionally, she states, “I’m also co-president of Literacy Magazine as well.” As well as working hard in these clubs, Sophia constantly works hard in her classes and shows her passion for learning. She is very proud to be elected and comments that she “loved that my teachers saw my passion for school.”
Damian Gizas is currently a junior at WMC. He displays passion through the many clubs he is in and always puts in the extra effort to go above and beyond in his classes. Damian is in “some way honored to be chosen, a little embarrassed to have my name broadcasted a lot but mostly thankful and honored”. Damian consistently tried to achieve any and all class activities and always tried to work his hardest in a particular subject. If he struggles with something, he figures out a solution to understand and make it easier to acknowledge and know. Damian participates in many clubs during and outside of school such as the Chinese club, computer coding club, academy of Science, National Honor Society, and Boy Scouts. He focuses on the clubs that he likes and is good at; to increase his passion for the specific club and to not tire himself out and not overwhelm himself. One piece of advice that particularly stood out to me was that you can’t force passion on things you’re not passionate about, you also can’t force passion on things you are passionate about because sometimes you can get so engaged and so involved to a point where you start to burn yourself out. Damian says if you get to a point where you are so stressed out, stop. Take a breath and enjoy what you are doing. If you know you are overwhelmed and struggling with everything, set goals. Reasonable goals that don’t require your entire free time and energy. You can love and accept something but try not to be obsessed over it. Then you know you need to stop”. Last but not least Damian will continue to work hard in what he does, to excel in classes so he will be able to go to the best college of his chosen major in two years. He wants to be a condensed matter physicist, which is the research of quantitative material. Which only has a few select colleges that can help you achieve that dream. Keep working hard Damian, you got this.
Sofiia Goncharuk is currently a senior at WMC. Sofiia is very passionate about school, especially her classes. Sofiia is really interested in math and wants to go to college to be an engineer, so she is taking Calculus Applications 2 IB-HL, the same class she also took her junior year. Sofiia believes people saw the extra effort she took during her classes especially since she is new to the school. Sofiia goes above and beyond to do better every day and works hard for her goals. Sofiia is always trying to understand things and will definitely ask for help if she is confused with anything, despite English not being her first language. She is very curious and very passionate about doing better. Sofiia is involved in a lot of extracurricular clubs such as Green Team, Highlanders for Humanity, FBLA, Academy of Science, and so on. Sofiia also works at HomeGoods in Chester. Sofiia wants to be involved in helping out the school and the community and opening her mind to more amazing opportunities and knowledge. Sofiia is also on the varsity swim team and is very excited for the upcoming season. One thing she would advise other students to do is “do something you enjoy whether it’s a class or a club since that’s basically the only way to be passionate about your school routine and succeed in it.” She also wants students to make sure they manage their time and prioritize things, making sure they’re ahead. Sofiia at first was scared when she was elected as a student of the month because she didn’t want to disappoint people, but later got very excited and thankful. She felt responsible and proud that she was chosen. Her current goals for the school year are to apply to all of her desired colleges by November 1st and keep her grades up in order to be an engineer. Which requires a lot of academic skills.
