By CLAUDIA HEADLEE
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Hey! My name is Claudia Headlee and I am a sophomore at Sheridan High School. I am involved in a lot of activities, such as sports, volunteering, clubs, school, and of course, school. Ever since I can remember, I have always been a very involved person, taking every opportunity possible.
I always push myself to see how much I can do, which isn’t always good. In school I like to be ahead, so I take the hardest classes possible just to prove to myself what I can do. When signing up for classes at the end of last year, I had people asking if I was sure I could handle what I was signing up for, but I never backed out of a challenge.
My schedule involved an AP World class, two math classes, weights class, Accelerated English, plus other necessary classes, and may I mention I don’t have a study hall.
A couple weeks into school, I realized AP World wasn’t for me, which made me very disappointed in myself. After a lot of thinking and talking with the counselor and my mom, I decided to drop AP World and take geography. Making that decision took a lot from me because I felt like a quitter. Having that class off my shoulders definitely did help a lot, but it wasn’t the source of all my stress.
In school I am also involved in many clubs. Every time I hear about a new one I am slightly interested in, I look to join it, or sometimes they’ll reach out to me first, but either way I always take the opportunities. Currently I am in Sheridan C.A.A.R.E.S, Student Council, Bring Change to Mind Ambassadors, Sunshine Society, and I am an Athletic Ambassador. I am also part of the Youth and Family Alliance, which is outside of school, and came from being in ACTS, which I was in last year but I graduated from. I also try to volunteer as much as possible, whether it is at the school or elsewhere.
When it comes to sports, I enjoy playing all of them. Currently, I am in volleyball and cheer, but in the winter season I will be in basketball. I was looking into being in wrestling as well as basketball, but sadly I don’t believe that will be possible for me since basketball is a big commitment. Then in the spring, I play softball and I am planning on doing track for the first time.
That might sound like a lot, but it’s what I enjoy: Having responsibilities, being a part of something, and keeping busy.
In my past, I have played many sports such as soccer, football, and gymnastics, which I would totally play again if I could without dropping my current sports. Not only have I already set the expectation to always be in a sport for myself, I also feel as if I set it for others. When I try to imagine myself not playing sports, I simply cannot do it, because sports have always been my whole life.
All of that is really just in-school activities. I also love spending time with my friends and my boyfriend. Although it might not be the most responsible choice, I hang out with my boyfriend pretty often. While I could be doing the things I am stressing about like homework, cleaning my room, doing projects, instead I am just spending time with him. I hate having a messy room and being behind, but honestly that’s all my life has been lately. I go to early morning practice, go to school all day, have practice or a game after school, then hang out with my boyfriend or go straight to bed because I am just too tired for anything else. Keeping a clean and organized room plus doing chores at home is very hard to get done with my schedule.
I also enjoy being responsible and making and spending my own money, so every other Sunday morning, I clean an office building for some quick cash since a normal job is so difficult at the moment.
Something that really doesn’t help with all this is my mental health. I have things holding me back constantly that I can’t always control. A lot of people, including myself, feel the need to be perfect. Perfect is different to everyone; you should be perfect to you. Nobody knows what perfect actually looks like, so just make it up.
That was a quick look into my life as a very busy teen, and hopefully reading this can spread a lot of different messages. I am not perfect and doing all these activities is very difficult. I will admit it: I remember when I used to see people do a lot of stuff and I just thought they were always great at what they did and never made a mistake, but that is not true in the slightest. Every single one of us makes mistakes and we are all human.