Lilly Thorson is a senior at Metea Valley High School and is an aspiring educator who is excited about working on new projects and playing softball.
What role(s) do you play at Metea?
I am the co-president of our American Sign Language Club, [and] the co-president of the principal’s advisory board. I’m also involved with Captain’s Council, Student Government, Life Leaders, and the Grow Your Own Teachers program. I am in the American Sign Language Honor Society, [and] I also play softball here. I recently applied for Rho Kappa, which is [the] Social Studies Honor Society, and I’m waiting to hear back from that.
What are your goals and/or plans for the future?
I’ve genuinely been in love with working with kids for probably the last seven or eight years of my life, and I’ve known I’ve wanted to do education for a long, long time. I love working with our special-ed kids. They’re the bright spot of my day. I’m in two different peer partners classes this year. And I genuinely, genuinely love those kids.
What are some of your favorite memories from your time at Metea?
[This] past year, varsity softball was fun. It was a bit of a kind of a crazy season, just given the circumstances we were put into. But being recognized as a varsity athlete was really great, and I felt like I was really proud of that, because I had worked very hard to get there.
Through Captain’s Council, we hosted a middle school sports expo last year that was very successful. And that was, I like to call it, my brainchild. That was my idea that I brought to life. So, that was kind of like my thing, and so I was very proud of that as well. A lot of it happened last year. I feel like last year was one of my better years.
What’s something about you that people might not know about but is important to you?
I feel like it’s kind of well-known that I’m going into education post-high school, but I don’t think people realize that’s been my passion for a number of years. I have known for a long, long time that I wanted to work in education, and I want to work with kids. More specifically, high school age students, special education, for one, as well as history and social studies. So, if I could find a way to combine my love for all of that, that would be my ideal job.
What keeps you motivated to come to school every day?
Everything that I do outside of my academics. Don’t get me wrong, I love learning, and I love the classes that I’m taking this year. I’m the most excited about my senior year classes, because I think that’s when we get the most freedom to choose, and so they’re going to be the most enjoyable. So yes, I love coming and I love doing what we’re doing in all of my classes. But more so than that, I like what I do outside of school. I just love being around people who share my same interests and [who] are passionate about the same things, and so feeding off of each other is really fun for me and really fulfilling for me.
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