The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
“My greatest accomplishment this year was learning new things. I’m taking an ASL class because I am deaf, and I’m also trying to be fluent in a language that I’m a part of. It has been something that has helped me, and I definitely want to be an influence on [others]. [Some difficulties I had along the way were] my grades. In high school, things are very different from middle school, so it’s tough to keep up with my grades. Because of the masks, I couldn’t understand my teacher and what they were saying. At the beginning of the school year, I had doubts that I’d graduate because I’m deaf, but I feel pretty good looking back on how far I’ve come. If you’re struggling, don’t give up. Just take one step at a time and see where it takes you.” — Elle Keely, 9

Elle Keely

Nola Becquette, CJ1 Writer • May 20, 2022

“My sister has a genetic disability called Cri Du Chat Syndrome. She doesn't have a full chromosome like most people do. [This] can affect physical appearance. It took her up to seven years to learn how to walk, and she doesn't talk. She communicates a bit with sign language, but most of her signs are just made up. She's my oldest sister, so since I was born I've always grown up with a sister who had a disability and needed extra support. Having her as my sister made me mature faster and made me realize at a really young age, “oh, she's not like other people.” [Having her as a sister has also] helped me realize there are a lot of different people in the world and that not everyone's the same. Everyone is at different spots in life.” —Jenna Eickmeier, 9

Jenna Eickmeier

Ava Silva, CJ1 Writer • May 19, 2022

“My biggest achievement in sports was when my teammates and I placed second at a track and field invitational. I am on the JV team, and we ran the 4x400, which is a relay with four people, and we each ran 400 meters or one lap. I ran it with a group that our coach, Kristen Witt, put us in – Taylor Phillips, Celia Freed and Megan Cauley. I was proud of us when we placed second place with a time of 5:03.05. This was also a big moment for me because last year, I didn’t get a season with COVID. During my freshman year, I was hesitant about trying out for the team at first, and we didn’t get much of a season because of the pandemic. [That’s why] when someone asks for advice about starting track, I just tell them not worry about it because once they start going to the practices, they will see that it's not as scary as people make it out to be.” – Betina Ivanova, 11

Betina Ivanova

Serpil Kucukkaya, CJ1 Writer • May 19, 2022

“I’ve been doing journalism for three years now. It all started in the eighth grade, [when] I got mail from [the] high school-a little pamphlet and a letter telling me that my English teacher had recommended me for the program. At that point, I didn’t have many electives I wanted to do, so I thought it would be good to try it out and see what I thought. I wound up involved in CJ1, and I loved it. I did like my first couple of stories, as bad as they were. It was fun writing about people that I knew and things that they're doing. I will say one tough thing that happened at the end of [last] year: I had to juggle two stories at once because COVID had messed with the whole schedule. I struggled a lot to learn how to draft and do everything online. I work a lot better in person. I like having [face-to-face] conversations. When we were online, Brinda, my section editor, took time out of her day to talk with me after school, work with me on stories, and help me with my sentence structure. She’s been one of the writers at the forefront of my mind when I talk about people who have inspired me. Her advice has pushed me to become an even better writer; I’ve even won two Best of SNO awards with some of her advice, which I'm happy about. [Earlier] this year, I wrote a story about gifted kid burnout. It affected a lot of my friends since they were a part of the gifted program. I could tell they’ve been struggling recently because of all the pressure put on them. I thought, ‘Okay, I want to write about this issue.’ It’s something that’s not raised all that often. So what I did was I got on [the computer] and started drafting, and I ended up loving it. When I posted it, I doubted I would win anything with the story, but I was happy because it was something I enjoyed writing. It ended up being my first Best of SNO, which I was really, really proud of. Winning [the award] was a goal for this year, to be able to get to this point. And I did it. It’s one of my favorite memories.” - Madi Michajliczenko, 11

Madi Michajliczenko

Anshu Chappidi, CJ1 Writer • May 18, 2022

“The greatest advice that I’ve received was, ‘Every step that's a failure is closer to success.’ This [advice] has helped [me] push past tough times such as depression and mental illness. I thought about it myself. When I started my investing company, I had many failures. My inspiration is Elon Musk. He spent millions, soon billions of dollars, trying to develop Space X, and when he did, he was almost bankrupt. So the quote comes from not giving up even when failure is on your way. It [has] allowed me to see things in a better shape.” — Steven Cheng, 9

Steven Cheng

Nola Becquette, CJ1 Writer • May 18, 2022

“The saddest moment of my life was when my great grandmother died. She lived in Texas, about 30 minutes away from my grandparents. We'd see her twice a year when we went to see my grandparents. She was in a nursing home a lot, but my great grandpa was not until recently. [While they were in the nursing home,] it was sad to see that they [couldn’t] do things that they used to be able to do by themselves. They needed all this help. We would go see them a lot, [and we would] spend time with [and] play board games with them. I [also] liked working on [my great grandpa’s] farm because he worked really hard and [is] kind of like a model [to me]. He was nice to everybody that he met, and I wanted to be like that.” —Jacob Burch, 9

Jacob Burch

Ava Silva, CJ1 Writer • May 17, 2022

“My favorite things to do outside of school are going on walks outside and watching Pokemon. I especially like going on walks with my twin sister Bridget. Me and my sister are two out of five kids. I also like to go to camp with my sister. We spend a lot of time outside there. I also like Pokemon. My favorite Pokemon is Jolteon. When I’m in school, my favorite class is science. I like learning about animals. My favorite animals are polar bears. I like going to see them at the zoo.” — Erin Berry, 12

Erin Berry

Serpil Kucukkaya, CJ1 Writer • May 17, 2022

“[The saddest moment of my life was] when I was 7. I had a friend [who] was like an older sister to me. She was 18 and in her second week of college when she got into a car accident and died. So it was different because it was a younger person and not someone older. In my experience, when I was little it was always [people I barely knew] that we went to funerals for, and then it was someone who was 18. [My biggest regret is] not spending enough time with the people [I care for] because I feel like there are a lot of people in my life that I don't see enough. When something happens [to them], I get stressed about not seeing them and what I would have done differently if I could see them more.” - Lily West, 9

Lily West

Ava Silva, CJ1 Writer • May 16, 2022

“The biggest influence in my life would have to be my mom. She’s very hardworking and gets things done for herself and others. My mom beat [breast] cancer. It showed me how strong she is and how she can push through [hard times]. [I remember] I had a lot going on in the eighth-grade year, and she helped me push through that and be the person I am now. [Without her] I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am now because she helped me be a better person.” — Alex Hurley, 9

Alex Hurley

Nola Becquette, CJ1 Writer • May 16, 2022

“The saddest moment in my life is when my father died five years ago. It didn't affect me personally. I guess I just miss him. He was [very] interesting and fun to talk to. I was very close to my dad. But around the time he died, I hadn't seen him [for] a few months. There are like a lot of stories of when [I] was a baby. [When] we went to public places, I would go [up] to random couples, and I would tell them all these random words like my alphabet. My dad would just sit back and watch me. I remember we would come home after and eat nasty bananas filled with jelly, and I hated it so much. Yes, I would say my dad keeps me going. He would be very upset right now if he saw my grades. He always wanted the best for me. I just kinda started focusing on myself once he died. I'm not doing good in school; there’s no point. I decided to start drawing. I can honestly say I just do it for fun now. But it eases my mind and distracts me from reality.” - Melanie Shearer, 9

Melanie Shearer

Kerra White, CJ1 Writer • May 13, 2022

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