Esta Kamau, Features/Humans of West Editor
• May 5, 2025
Every year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recognizes a group of students attending high schools all over St. Louis based on their prestige in academics and athletics. This year, senior Henry Wild was chosen...
Aug. 9, 2022, 11:45 p.m., a siren sounds, and red and blue lights illuminate a car pulled over in a bank parking lot peppered with bullet holes. Minutes earlier, senior Henry Dittmar and his girlfriend...
Raj Jaladi, Newsletter Editor/Data Analyst
• June 1, 2023
In this episode, meet senior Grant Meert, who was accepted into Johns Hopkins University to play D3 baseball. Listen to learn the secrets behind his success.
TRANSCRIPT
Junior Raj Jaladi:...
“[I wanted to quit] baseball, I wasn't really in a good mindset, I was doubting myself. I was flipping out on everything, bringing my anger onto my teammates, my coaches, and the field. My dad told me...
![Pitching the ball on Apr. 14, senior Henry Wild and his team play against Belleville East. Wild was named scholar athlete of the year by St. Louis Post-Dispatch after maintaining a high cumulative GPA and staying involved with athletics for all of high school. “It’s an amazing honor. I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to represent my school [and] what [it] stands for,” Wild said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/unnamed-6-1200x714.jpg)
![Putting on his helmet, catcher and senior Tommy Eschbach prepares to get in his primary stance. Despite losing 6-1 against Eureka on April 16, Eschbach didn’t let the tough loss affect his playing or mental health. “It's [so] easy to get caught up in the sport and what you're doing that [after] one bad game or a stretch of games it is hard to remind yourself that your worth as a person isn't directly related to your performance on the field,” Eschbach said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DSC_0415-1-1-1200x800.jpg)
![“I’ve been playing baseball since I was four. The MLB inspired me to play, [but] my dad is my biggest inspiration. He's very respectful and very hardworking. He taught me to stick close to your friends who will help you achieve your goals and not get in the way of them. Baseball has made me grow with the way I start friendships. It's helped me grow [more with] athletic performances and how I accomplish things throughout life. Friendships play a big part in baseball, [especially] when you’ve been playing on the same team since you were a kid. It was really nice playing with the same people because I really got an understanding of who they are and how they play the game. You also get to see how they grow athletically and mentally over time. I formed friendships with those people I spent most of my time with and it was hard to leave that team, it’s like I left a family. [My goal for this season] is to lead my team and to have a really good record. I’ve already built relationships with my teammates through classes and just hanging outside of school.” - Isaac Sinak, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_0119-1200x800.jpg)
![Senior Henry Dittmar celebrates his 18th birthday in recovery from a drive-by shooting that left him seriously injured. During this birthday, Dittmar was still unable to walk from the effects of a bullet that ripped through his calf. "The most challenging part of this experience was being patient with everything," Dittmar said. "Building that patience was definitely the best thing for me, [because] I am definitely not a very patient person. I learned a lot about myself during this experience."](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Untitled-design-9-900x506.png)
![“I was looking forward to my freshman year since this is my favorite sport and I was [just coming back from being] out for two weeks because of a stress fracture on my foot. During practice my arm started to hurt to the point where the coach started to notice so I started to take it easy a bit. A few days later I had a freshman game and during warm up I was throwing the ball and my elbow dropped and broke so I had to get surgery. I’m upset because I have worked hard to get to this point and now I won’t be able to play for all of the West season and probably summer ball. It’s been really helpful having my team support me while I still go and support them. It just really sucks because I feel like I would be playing my position [often], but now I'm not playing at all so it's just all over now.” - Ethan Brookshire, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_9019-copy-900x600.jpg)
![“I’m passionate about school and baseball and have faced many challenges in both. With school last semester, my science class was very difficult, I felt like I had to learn the [lessons] by myself. And with baseball, when I was in seventh grade, I sprained my elbow pitching. I felt sad that I couldn’t play, but I learned how much having an injury can suck. My dad is the most influential person to me, he has taught me to work hard in order to reach my goals in baseball, school, and life. In my freshman year, I only got one B, it felt very good because I worked hard and it paid off. [I’m motivated] to do well in school, so that I can make good money when I come out of college and retire early. Right now, Rose Hulman sounds like a good college to help me reach those goals. The school has a good engineering [program], and I could play baseball there. In the future I want to be able to relax, provide for my kids and play with my dogs," -Colin Hughes, 10](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-7573-900x694.jpg)
