“Be uniquely you.”
Kat Collier, class of 2021, is an artist, a talented Marco Polo player, and a member of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams. She has raced for the SMES Cross Country and Track and Field teams since her freshman year and has played SMES soccer since her sophomore year. Kat loves food, going to the beach with friends, and art. At red lights, she dislikes people who stop unnecessarily far away from the car in front of them.
“Cross country and track have changed my life,” says Kat. Though she has participated in a lot both on and off campus, running with her teammates has by far been her favorite experience. “Not only am I in the best shape I will ever be, but I’ve made my best friends.” She says that her favorite memory from cross country is the Cool Breeze meet, the first meet of the season. “Varsity runners don’t race until 9:00 pm, so it’s pitch black out. There’s a huge adrenaline rush and it goes by so quickly. After the race we get back to school at midnight, so we all go to Harbor House together.”
In addition to cross country and track, Kat plays SMES soccer and says that one of her favorite high school memories was when she scored her first goal ever. “Scoring my first goal was insane,” she remembers. “All of my teammates were so excited for me.” Since Kat had never scored, her teammates kept passing her the ball until she was able to score her first goal. “After I finally did it my teammates rushed over to me and we had the best group hug in the world.”
“One thing that I wish I knew coming into high school is to avoid procrastination at all costs,” says Kat. With all of her activities, school can get pretty busy, and time management can be difficult. She also says that “asking your upperclassmen friends for help with homework is amazing,” and urges younger students to seek help whenever they need it. “Lastly,” she says, “studying in groups actually works!”
One piece of advice about the college search that Kat has for rising seniors is to “choose the college that makes you happy.” She says not to “pursue the most prestigious school just because you got in,” and to “instead focus on where you will thrive and be your happiest. Happiness leads to success.”
In talking about her last year at SMES, Kat has a few senior traditions that are important to her. The first is decorating the quad during Spirit Week, an annual senior tradition where the senior class gathers together to decorate the senior quad and plans fun, seniors-only activities to celebrate their last spirit week. “Decorating the quad is an important tradition to me because it really shows that you’re a senior,” says Kat. “Since freshman year I’ve been thinking about how our class should decorate the quad, so I’ve really been looking forward to it.” The other tradition that is important to Kat is Candlelighting, in which the senior class passes their leadership onto the juniors by lighting their candles in chapel. “Candlelighting is important to me because it’s a really memorable moment of saying goodbye at St. Margaret’s.” Kat has been at SMES since she was two years old, so the tradition is meaningful to her because it helps her say goodbye to her school in a memorable way.
To close, Kat wanted to share one lesson that she learned in high school. “Be indifferent to those that you don’t connect well with,” she says. “Actively disliking someone or starting drama is so unnecessary. Instead, focus on something more important.” She has one final piece of advice for other high schoolers, and that is to be yourself. “Be uniquely you,” she says, urging other students to be true to themselves no matter what.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
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