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
“After I had surgery on my ACL, I was told the recovery process was going to be eight months to a year. That meant I wasn't going to be able to play soccer for a while. When high school season was coming up, my doctor said I could try out. But my doctor also said that he wouldn't recommend it, because if I wasn't 100% ready I could get hurt and then be out another year. Once high school season started it was harder to accept that I couldn't play because I would see everyone playing or talking about it. But the coaches definitely supported me when I told them about my injury and helped me not feel as stressed out or disclosed from everything. When talking to the coaches they mentioned that I could be the team manager, but I decided not to because I want to get back quickly and being a manager would take up recovery time. Now that I’m starting to play soccer again I’ve noticed I am playing a lot more timid now because I don’t want to repeat my injury. But my injury has also made me more aware of my surroundings when I am playing.” - Hannah Hampton, 9

Hannah Hampton

Nora Fussner, CJ1 Writer • April 25, 2023

“The best advice I’ve learned from a sport is that the sport depends on you and so does your team, but it doesn't define you. I learned this about a year ago, when my team [the AFA Fillies] was having a chat on the way out of a tournament. I recently played goalie [for soccer] and I took a lot of the blame on myself but I can't let that define or stop me. So I have to work harder to get back to my original position. It changed my perspective from not wanting to go to practices, or not wanting to put in the work at home to motivating myself to do those things. My mom also told me something similar [making] me think that if two people are telling me to do it for me, then they’ve got to be right. People should learn that you should work hard at your sport, but make sure that it doesn't affect what you do in your life and [how you] play. I've been putting in work nonstop and it’s paying off. So I would also [tell] to anyone struggling with getting motivated that if you just push yourself to do it, you’ll eventually have to depend on it.” -Faith Mosher, 9

Faith Mosher

Juli Moellenhoff, CJ 1 Writer • April 24, 2023

“I spend a lot of my time after school working at HiTea, and I work there once a week. At first, I started working there because I wanted to earn money, but I really enjoy making the drinks and serving them to customers. It’s fun to see first-time customers who have never had boba before and to see their reactions to it since it is pretty different from other popular drinks. Work can sometimes be draining since I’ll have a long day at school, but then I have to go straight to work after. I have made some of my closest friends through work, which makes it less draining, and sometimes I even look forward to going. I can see myself working there for the rest of high school, but after college, I want to pursue a career in math or science. Even though working at a boba shop and a career in math is different, working at HiTea for two years has definitely given me a lot of experience in the business world. It has improved my social skills tremendously.” - Louis Liu, 10

Louis Liu

Angie Ren, Staff Writer • April 21, 2023

“I need to get better at time management and spending my time wisely because I have to go to soccer after school and I find that I don’t have enough time to do my homework or study for my tests. I need to get my schoolwork done before I watch TV or go on my phone so I can get my work out of the way and relax. I want to keep everything organized to keep my grades up. My grades are important to me because I feel like your high school life are the stairs that bring you up and make you able to go to college and do what you want in your life. So, if you don’t do good in high school then you might not be able to follow your dreams.” -Julia Kiffer, 9

Julia Kiffer

Juli Moellenhoff, Staff Writer • April 19, 2023

“Tennis is something I spend a lot of my time on. My dad played tennis throughout high school, so he wanted me to get involved in the sport so that he could teach me. I enjoy playing tennis because I love to win, and it gives me satisfaction to have a mindset to strive to win every game. My favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, inspires me to do my best in tennis, and I learned a lot from him just by watching him play. His strokes are very pretty, and his form is really good, so he usually is my go-to pro tennis player to watch. Along with just enjoying tennis, it has also improved my thought process and mentality a lot because when you’re playing singles, you don’t have a lot of help, so you have to think and do everything for yourself. This has also helped me in school because, say if you’re taking a test or doing work, you have to work independently and for yourself.” - Kai Daudsyah, 10

Kai Daudsyah

Angie Ren, Staff Writer • April 17, 2023

“I grew up in Oslo, Norway, where I lived until I was 8. My family and I moved to St. Louis since my parents thought Norway was too cold year-round. When we moved here, it was pretty hard because I didn’t know how to speak English, and everything about my surroundings was different. I had to pick up English quickly, which changed my personality in some ways because it was hard to talk to people. Not knowing how to speak English made me a little more independent and less social, and I started to seclude myself from others because I couldn’t talk to them. Right now, I still can be slightly anti-social, but I have become more comfortable because of how long it’s been. My family and I still visit Norway almost every year, and I love to ski there because there are really big mountains and it snows a lot. Even though my family and I moved to a different country, we still carry out our old Norwegian traditions. I speak Norwegian to my family at home, and we always watch Norwegian movies together.” - Max Brophy, 11

Max Brophy

Angie Ren, Staff Writer • April 17, 2023

“All four of my grandparents were really impactful on me growing up, I'm lucky enough that they all live really close by. Growing up, it was really nice to be able to see them a lot and to visit and just be able to have a close connection with them because not everyone is close with their grandparents, and most people only get to see them every so often. It was different when growing up, especially when I was in pre-K kindergarten, I would see my grandparents on both sides, multiple times a week. It’s really nice to have that connection with them. I kind of have like three homes like both of my grandparent's houses are on my own. It really had a positive impact on me growing up. I'm looking forward to senior year and college. I'm honestly not nervous [for college]. Right now, I'm trying to take in my time at home but also I think I'm going to really enjoy the independence of college. I'm excited to mainly just be around new people like people from all over because I hopefully will go to an out-of-state college so I just am really excited to be in a new area around new people who like different things,” Deluca said.

Alexandra DeLuca

Lia Emry, Staff Writer • April 14, 2023

Although I had developed book smarts going to college, I quickly discovered that my street-smarts were behind my peers as I struggled with day-to-day organizational and time management skills as well as a lack of big picture and worldly views of topics and events. Thinking back to my high school years, I let my parents do too much for me who were quick to step in, reminding me about deadlines or just assuming responsibilities that were mine to own. Although it made my life easier at the time, my development was behind where it needed to be, and blame and struggle were placed solely on my shoulders. My parents had a significant impact on my development as a person in both the ways I approached and thought of others as well as my choices to stay challenged in life. Amongst other values, they instilled in me the virtue of acceptance which largely led me to the field of Counseling." - Chris Lorenz, counseling.

Chris Lorenz, Counseling

Lia Emry, Staff Writer • April 6, 2023

“A struggle for me in the past and currently is being too hard on myself and perfectionism. It has impacted my life in different ways but ultimately taught me how to take better care of myself and just let things happen. I feel like people misunderstand my personality. Some people might say I look “mean” or if they talk to me I’m “quiet” but if you get to know me, I feel like I’m very different than those assumptions. My mom impacted my outlook on life. She taught me how to truly live and be grateful for things especially if something doesn’t go the way I imagine. I look forward to making connections with new people and taking on opportunities to meet new people.” - Audrey Amato, 11

Audrey Amato

Lia Emry, Staff Writer • April 4, 2023

“My aunt is an educator. She was education assistant superintendent in a district in Illinois. So growing up not only her but my family in general, my parents and my dad always encouraged me to do different things and seek out the best path for myself but her and education-wise, I kind of mimicked her path when it came to grad school and pursuing my doctorate. She greatly influenced me with all of that. I regret not getting involved in more like clubs when I was in high school. I played sports for the most part. In my high school, you'd have to choose between one of the two. Originally, I always wanted to be in education administration. I wanted to be athletic director. When I first went to school, it was my first go. After being in school and going to grad school and seeing the job of some of the athletic directors and the amount of time they have to put in after school, for supervising activities and other things, changed my focus to the principal route. I found the principal route gives you an opportunity to have a more, more of a positive impact on a large number of students. Everybody doesn't play athletics or do activities. Everybody does go to school. So you have to figure out ways to best, you know, make students as successful as they can in this role,” Heavens said.

Jamaal Heavens, Principal

Lia Emry, Staff Writer • March 27, 2023

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