Embedded Files
HOTH- Coach Kane
By Abby Berryhill
September 2026
For teaching, I was inspired by one of my former gym teachers/coaches that I
had, he was a former basic high school guy that went to the same high school as me that graduated a couple years earlier than me. And then when he decided to go to college, he played at college and he decided to come back and give back to the high school that he went to. When I was in middle school, he was in high school. So he kind of inspired me in a way to do that same route. He was a gym teacher, but obviously I decided to do social studies instead.
My dad had been a coach for up to 45 years, and so I always grew up you know being around him coaching and doing football and basketball. And so I had him coaching when I was little
up until middle school. And so again getting involved with teaching, coaching and playing at the next level if I wanted to continue doing football and then eventually as I got into golf and just coaching in general; I wanted to be involved with sports, and I believe no matter what sports ends for everyone one day, and so if you want to keep on being involved coaching is really one of the only ways to keep on getting involved and it's always great to give back when you can.
HOTH- Kariyah Mackey
By Nackiah Miller
September 2026
I remember that when I was around seven or eight years old, we were playing hide and go seek in the woods across the street behind one of my friends' houses. I was pushed by a boy that wouldn't leave me alone. He pushed me and I fell down a hill and I got a stick stuck in my throat and I was rushed to the hospital and they told me that if they didn't remove it immediately then I was going to die. Then my mom tried to figure out what boy it was, but I couldn't speak to tell and then I I had to go to like physical therapy for weeks to make sure I wouldn't lose the ability to talk. And then weeks later, not even months later, I lost my grandma and my grandpa due to cancer in the same month. I wasn't allowed to go back to school in five or 6 months and I failed kindergarten because of it. To me it wasn't too traumatic. Because I kind of just pulled it out and I didn't really realize the severity of the situation because I did just pull it out and they told me that I shouldn't have done that. The whole losing the grandparents thing and both of them in the same month was very traumatic for me. And the failing kindergarten because I couldn't attend for months was also very traumatic to me because I lost all my friends and my grandparents in the same year and almost my ability to talk and to live.I still have like if I yell too loud or if I talk for a long period of time or if I move my head a certain way, the spot where I got the stick stuck in my throat will hurt really badly to the point where I just can't move my neck. I don't share the topic a whole lot because to me it wasn't like oh my gosh did you that really happened to you type thing. So I don't really care too much for it now. I'm just glad I didn't lose my life to it. Since I do cheer and basketball, it has affected my life now, but it hasn't affected it to the point where I can't do basic daily things and the sports I really love to do.I don't think about it a lot. If there's something that doesn't remind me of it then I don't think about it at all. When I joined journalism and they were talking about stories, I really thought about my story and about how I feel like not going into the woods with random people and playing hide and go seek and getting pushed down a hill. I feel like that could really open some people's eyes to just not be so careless. It could also open some parents' eyes to actually watch your kids because things can really happen that you wouldn't expect to happen in daily life. I really could have died. I had to run to my house which was all the way on another street with my sister keeping me up. She thought I was lying at first because you couldn't see the hole until I opened my mouth and she shined a light in it and I couldn't speak either so I couldn't tell her what was wrong. And my sister didn't know what was wrong either until I opened my mouth and she saw the humongous hole. And then when the ambulance came, because I could barely walk and I was freaking out, because they told me like when my mom started freaking out and she started saying oh my like and she called my grandma and she was like oh my gosh there's a big hole. There's a big hole. That's when I started to freak out and her reaction to it was really just oh no my child's going to like die. At the beginning, the severity of the situation didn't dawn on me because I was like a child. And at the time, I was like, "Oh, this is really really serious." Like, "OMG." And at the time it didn't hurt me. Like I didn't feel the pain in the back of my throat. But I think that's just because it didn't hit anything that would really hurt me. And I couldn't talk so I didn't try to talk so it didn't hurt. So her reaction really made me think, "Oh my gosh, like this is this is really serious. I really didn't think about it. I didn't think too much about it. I just really I was really thinking about not dying because my mom was like talking to the medic officer in front of me and he was like she may need stitches and then my mom was crying and then I heard the conversation about how if they don't give me stitches and I don't rush to the hospital immediately then I was going to die and I was like oh no that can't happen.
HOTH: Sam Hunter ’29
By Alyssa Jones
February 2026
“It’s definitely a new environment coming into high school where you get to meet new people and teachers. My dad passed away when I was younger. Explaining it was really hard on me, because that’s always hard on somebody when you’re young and someone in your family passes. You just go through a lot of challenges when somebody dies in your life, everything changes to a certain extent. My mom is someone I really look up to, she just always inspires me, because she raised me and my brothers by herself when we were younger, she always inspires me to keep going.”
HOTH: Zamora Wright ’27
By Nathanel McElwain
February 2026
“I like to sing, so I’ve always been a very vocal person.I think that choir is just a great way to get your voice out there, especially if you have stage fright. You can get out there and sing, and then you won’t be really scared anymore. You’re going out there and doing something that you’ve always loved, but you never did because of your fear of the stage and singing in front of people. When I joined Choir, I got over the fear of singing in front of a crowd of people and practiced a lot after that. I ended up being ahead of people there.”
HOTH: Ian McElwain ’29
By Matilyn Neal
February 2026
“Getting closer to God and truly worshiping Him and going to church for Him. I have to get closer to Him, actually, fix myself and all the problems that I’m experiencing and, it just makes me want to get closer to God. My friends, people at the church, and my family. Matilyn Neal, because she’s one of my friends at church, and she has been encouraging me to go and inviting me to a friend group, and they’ve just been so wonderful. You just have to put all your hopes in your friends and let them help you. It’s not like a journey you have to take along. Everybody needs help and if I feel, even if I don’t feel like someone around me needs it, I should still try and give them the help they need. Going to church every Wednesday and Sunday, reading my Bible, taking notes, and listening and talking to my small group at my church. My influence would mainly be my family, because my mom and dad, well, specifically my mom, have been pushing me together as well, because they started going more and they just want to help me get closer to Him.”
HOTH: Lyra Carter ’27
By Amber McAteer
February 2026
“Freshman year was definitely the worst year of my life. I loved the first semester. In my first semester, I met new people, I actually gained a boyfriend, and I got to just experience high school and learn about it. But the second semester came and I started to struggle. I really started to realize how high school is and how the people can be. And I had already had some high school experiences from first semester so the excited nerves wore off. But yes, second semester wasn’t that great. I would tell the current freshmen to stay on top of your work. I’d also say to keep your group small. Get your work done and keep your group small. That’s all you need. You don’t need everybody in the world to love you, and everybody in the world is not going to love you. So don’t worry about them. Just focus on yourself and your grades.”
HOTH: True Carnes ’27
By Alexandra Flores Ramirez
September 2025
“… scoring touchdowns for the football games. When we score, I get really excited about that, really happy. It’s definitely taught me a lot, especially as I’ve gotten to play for the school, it’s taught me a lot about leadership and working as a team, not just, a personal thing for me. So it’s stuff like that. It’s taught a lot, especially outside of football.
…I wouldn’t say it was very happy, but it definitely shaped me. I remember it was rec ball. We had one practice, and we had just finished doing something, but I was like, I really didn’t like it, and I was upset about it. I ran to my mom’s car-my dad’s car. And I was like, I just want to go home. I want to quit. I’m not kidding. But I was like, I really don’t like this. I got tears in my eyes and everything. I’m like, I really really want to quit and just go home. But they were like, just go to the back of the truck and get yourself together. They handed me a water. And so I went back there, maybe just by myself, for like two minutes. And I walked back, handed the water back and went right back to it. So I definitely think that shaped me and was like a moment in my life about, I just need to push through and just keep going. “
HOTH: Isabella Pritchard ’28
By Savannah Herndon
September 2025
“When I was little my parents took me to church, so now that I am older I continue my faith on my own. I don’t have my parents force me to go to church, I go on my own willingly. I have a really great youth pastor and pastors who help me and are very knowledgeable. If I have questions they can help. I have a good youth group who are very nice, I can always talk to and hang out with. I try to keep the same morals, like things I have learned in church on how to handle situations, and I try to use that knowledge and apply it to school situations.”
HOTH: Xander Holden ’29
By Zamora Wright
September 2025
“If I could truly give myself one thing to say to my younger self it would definitely be to be more confident. When I was in middle school I wasn’t very confident in myself. I would always wear hoodies, keep my head down in class and not speak to others much. But I did make some amazing friends in middle school like my best friends Ian and Mia. Now that I’m in high school I can really see how much more confident I have become in myself. I’m still shy most of the time but that’s just my personality. Since being in high school I have met people who have made me more confident than ever, the classes have made me learn and show my true self. I used to get bullied in middle school a lot and it did take a toll on me, I started caring about what others think of me 24/7. I wanted everyone to like me but honestly I just had to realize not everyone will like you in this life, my parents told me “who cares” so I guess you could say I took their advice.”
HOTH: Drew Dutton Staff
By Savannah Herndon
September 2025
“My education. I’m working in two jobs right now where I don’t lean heavily on my education from college and masters degree as I could be. But they are significant parts of my life. They have helped shape the way I think about the world that we live in. They have helped me see ways and be the person I need to be in given situations. I got my bachelor’s degree from Anderson in Christian Theology and Masters from Liberty in Christian Education. I work at a church. I worked with youth for ten years and now work with music. They don’t apply as much to the music field as they do in education. Even in that youth program it was more of an application based on how I can use what I have learned. I necessarily didn’t need the tools I got from the institutions but I still used them. I don’t know if that was something people saw in church. I know it is something that is not necessarily seen here. Like I said I don’t know if it is so much about the education as the experience I got from the education.”
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