- June 5On to the next
- May 22The fun in finance
- May 22Photo of the Week - May 22
- May 22Spring in action: A look into West's 2026 spring sports season
- May 21French en route
- May 19Sarah Johnson
- May 19Crime, class and consequence
- May 18Athletes of West - Alexander Berryhill
- May 15What Happens Next
- May 15An empty table
![“[The most influential person in my life is] Indiana guard Xavier Johnson. One day, he had a really good game. [He] didn't miss a shot [and] hit 30 points. I messaged him after the game [and told him] he did a really good job. He has a bunch of followers, so I didn't expect a response. He responded back to me and gave me some words of encouragement. After that, I started playing basketball a lot more and trying to get better. It inspired me to work harder [in life and in basketball].”
— Finn Smith, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image1-5-e1652130806414-900x653.jpg)
![“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](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image2-4-e1652130195948-900x634.jpg)
![“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](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image3-3-e1652129917475-900x650.jpg)
![“[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](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-10-900x675.jpg)
![“[The saddest moment of my life was] when [my dad] left for his deployment. I knew that I wouldn't be able to see him for at least a year. When he was [gone], I was sad all the time. It was the summer [I was] going into second grade, and he found out that he would be deployed [to Florida]. He went to Florida for seven months and 10 days. I only saw him three times, once for Christmas. It was hard because it was just my mom, brother and me. My brother was 4, so he didn't fully understand what was happening. He became very sensitive and developed anger issues because his mind was confused. It was hard to watch my brother be so mad, sad and angry all the time. It was also really hard to watch my mom try to keep it together and be there for my brother and [I]. There was still stuff that had to be done, but my dad wasn't there, so I had to step up and do it. In school, I was shy. I had friends, but I grew distant from them. It was hard to sit in school and learn. I didn't know when [my dad] was coming back, [but when he did], it surprised me, and I was extremely happy.”
— Hannah Zaiser, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image4-3-e1652129707436-900x645.jpg)
![“[The most influential person in my life] I would say [is] my papa. He has this disease called CADASIL where he is basically shutting down. I don't know how to explain it, but my dad likes to say that it's [similar to] a whole house. You can see the whole house is working, but you don't know that an outlet is not working. And slowly if that outlet doesn't work another outlet doesn't work. And then it's just this effect that is slowly shutting [him] down. Right now he's on hospice, and it's hard seeing and talking to him because I know that he would be there for me if I was struggling. It's hard to see him how he is now. I look up to him because he's one of the greatest people I know. He was always the first person to jump up and [say], ‘I'll help you.’ He did it with happiness, and I have a lot of good memories with him.” – Mackenzie Silva, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ksilva-1-900x675.jpeg)
![“[The most influential person in my life] I would say [is] my papa. He has this disease called CADASIL where he is basically shutting down. I don't know how to explain it, but my dad likes to say that it's [similar to] a whole house. You can see the whole house is working, but you don't know that an outlet is not working. And slowly if that outlet doesn't work another outlet doesn't work. And then it's just this effect that is slowly shutting [him] down. Right now he's on hospice, and it's hard seeing and talking to him because I know that he would be there for me if I was struggling. It's hard to see him how he is now. I look up to him because he's one of the greatest people I know. He was always the first person to jump up and [say], ‘I'll help you.’ He did it with happiness, and I have a lot of good memories with him.” - Mackenzie Silva, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_4636-900x675.jpg)
