Johnathan Barker is a senior at Metea Valley. He has been involved in the Speech Team, Student Government, and many others during his four years at Metea. While Barker reflects on his years, he chooses to share his words of wisdom with the rest of the student body.

Describe your favorite part of one of the many activities you are a part of:

I would say speech is probably my favorite activity because I really like having the opportunity to carry out the legacy of Metea’s speech team, and to be able to help the younger students the same way I was helped when I was younger.

Who has inspired you to be the best version of yourself?

My mom, because she worked extremely hard to reach all of her goals that she had herself, but then she set that all aside when it came to her kids and she has been doing everything that she can to help us reach our goals, making sure that we are making the right decisions ourselves. 

How has being a student here at Metea set you up for success?

Metea obviously is a really good school but on top of that the opportunities and connections that you make here due to a lot of the staff here. They genuinely care about individual students and want to work with them to improve the Metea life. With all of the opportunities that are available, you are able to gain experiences that you would not be able to anywhere else. Building connections with teachers and other students and also just building yourself as a person and finding what your values, morals, and priorities are not only in the experience category if you go to college but the way that you deal with things and your character.

Is there anyone you would like to say a few words to?

I would just like to say a word to the freshmen and sophomores that are struggling in knowing what they want to do. Just take a shot at it. You are never going to know exactly what you want to do until you do it. So you might as well allow yourself to do everything that you are curious about or even the things you are not curious about. I from the very beginning was not very enthusiastic about the things I do now, but I cannot imagine my life if I had not done those things so just take the leap and allow yourself to get involved and learn more about yourself.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I really appreciate all of the people who have had an effect on my schooling career. A lot of the teachers I have had have given a genuine and visible impact on the things that I have done here and the only reason I have been able to do the things that I have done is because of my friends, family, and teachers to support me and help me to learn more about myself and the world around me. 

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