Class of 2022: Senior Spotlights

After facing four years of high school, senior Meredith Ambrose has noticed one big change in her mentality. “To be honest, I care about things a lot less. It sounds bad when I say it like that, but I think of it as a positive thing. I don't get stressed out over the little things anymore, like some people do. I guess I go with the flow better.” Ambrose said that this mentality came from...

Senior Seraphina Blackmon has been wrestling since her freshman year. Although most athletes begin playing a sport because they’re told to try it out, Blackmon was told the exact opposite. “I started [wrestling] my freshman year because my eighth grade principal told me that I wasn’t able to because I was too girlie. He said that I should probably do a more girlie thing,” Blackmon said. ...

The lights begin to dim, signaling the show is about to begin. Music begins to flow from the pit. A single spotlight falls upon the stage, highlighting a person dressed in yellow. SpongeBob: The Musical has begun. A new character appears. This one is dressed in red, with crab claws instead of hands. He’s obsessed with money and has a slight pirate accent.  As the show continues, this charac...

Senior Evan Brotherton has been a baseball fan for as long as he can remember.  “I’ve been a fan as long as I’ve been a player. I started [playing] baseball when I was five or six and I just kept with it. I remember going to Cardinals games. I had season tickets,” Brotherton said.  He also said that while schoolwork and other aspects of high school have prevented him from going to a ...

The day they were born, senior Niyah Clarke said she already had a fashion sense. By the time she got to seventh grade, she started making her own clothing by watching YouTube videos. “I was like, ‘I should start making this myself’ so I did. [I don’t] know if I have an inspiration, I kind of just wanted to create something that I want to see, [something] I know would be good and different and...

You’ve probably at the very least heard of Faith Cole. Undefeated in four high school seasons of wrestling and four time state champion, her story has made the rounds.  Cole started wrestling when she was eight. She moved a lot as a kid but she always joined a local wrestling club wherever she went.  “It’s basically the only sport I’m decent at and kept with,” Cole said. “I’m a competitor, ...

Joining the military has always been seen as a valiant act to serve one’s country. For Hunter Doe, it is not only being willing to sacrifice herself to defend the country to make it a better, safer place, it is also a career path that runs in the family.  “I decided to join because I already have two siblings in the military and a long line of relatives plus I’m very interested in the whole p...

“I was born in North Carolina. From there, I moved to South Korea; then I moved to California, then Florida, then Virginia, then Alabama, then California again, then to a different spot in California, then Alabama again, then Florida again, then Texas, and then here,” senior Andrew Domsalla said. Domsalla’s father served in the Air Force for 22 years, causing his family to move around the w...

Senior Vince Deutchmann has spent the last year starting and growing his own business of detailing cars. “Detailing cars is a very detailed cleaning and attention-oriented cleaning of cars and other automobiles, cleaning the inside and outside,” Deutchmann said. “I worked at Waterway, and we did normal washes there, but I always wanted to do it for myself, so I transitioned into creating my o...

Senior Elizabeth Elliott has been involved in the Lafayette Theater Company (LTC) for all four years of high school. She appreciates the ability of the art of theater to persevere over thousands of years and the ability of LTC to persevere through the pandemic. “People don’t realize how much theater and the show affect everything and how we actually use it. I think it’s a really interesting thing ...

From beginning dance lessons at two years old to growing up in college-town Columbia, Missouri, dancing at a game in front of thousands slowly became a dream for senior Mirenda Gilmore. Now that she’s officially on the Ole Miss Rebelettes team, that dream is about to become a reality. Gilmore moved to St. Louis her freshman year and immediately joined the JV Escadrille team when she came to Lafayette...

Through the halls of Lafayette, senior Malik Hampton can usually be spotted strolling by the lockers, greeting or talking to someone he knows from one of his three sports, being referred to lovingly as “Milk”, a nickname coined for him in middle school. His demeanor seems like he couldn’t have a care in the world. But, under the surface, there’s more to Hampton than meets the eye. “I’m...

Everyone’s high school story looks a little different. Most seniors walk the halls among classmates they’ve known since elementary or middle school. Some moved in later, may it be out of district or even out of state. Senior Nickolay Harrell took a different path.  Harrell lived in Ukraine until he was almost 17, when he was adopted by an American family.  It was a dramatic transition f...

Darren Hwang is a leader. Ask the Lafayette Symphonic Orchestra, the highest level orchestra where Hwang leads as the Concert Master, and they’ll tell you as much. Ask the robotics team, where Hwang leads as the co-captain, and they’ll tell you the same. Hwang recognizes it too.  “To an extent, yeah I do [see myself as a leader]. I like to think I lead at least some of the orchestra hopef...

“What’s a phantom’s favorite park ride? A roller-ghoster.” This is one of many jokes that senior Chris Ikemeyer told to entertain the crowd in-between songs at the Platonic Lovers concert that took place at Ballwin Sno-Cone on Oct. 29, 2021. Even as her fingers froze, Ikemeyer plucked the strings of her bass alongside her best friends and bandmates on the cold evening. During the peak of ...

When a student reaches a certain level in French classes, they are required to take the state AAPPL test, ACTFL Assessment of Performance towards Proficiency in Languages, which determines their proficiency in the language. They are also able to gain a seal of bi-literacy by receiving above a certain score on each of the four sections of the test.  Megan Liu and Julia Harstick are both students who received the ...

A mother of two, an ex-con, a retired person, a high schooler. All of these people and more found themselves in a classroom at St. Louis Community College in Wildwood, Missouri. For senior Abby Miltenberger who has spent the last two years attending college, the diversity in the classroom is still a welcome surprise. “It’s definitely interesting meeting people. It’s a very mixed crowd, but I�...

Spirituality is a fundamental piece of human nature. Many people search to find a higher meaning or power. For senior Ayesha Muhammad, due to her heritage and family in Bangladesh.  “My mother was born and raised in Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country, so she was exposed to the practices and beliefs throughout her life. My father was born and raised in Texas and is a Muslim convert. They b...

When scrolling through Instagram, it’s not uncommon to see posts from Hannah Newhouse in another state or even another country. Newhouse’s page is filled with photos of her in places ranging from tropical rainforests to tops of snow capped mountains. Her family has taken Newhouse on over 20 different trips throughout the past four years.  “I normally travel with my mom or my grandma. Both of them lov...

For the past seven years, senior Zoe Rundquist has been studying Spanish through the Rockwood School District. Now, she plans to further her Spanish education by attending Truman State University in the Fall 2022 and majoring in the language. Rundquist’s Spanish journey began before she ever stepped foot into a classroom. “I have family friends who speak Spanish. They lived on a boat for a while, so [m...

Senior Aliyah Studt was a competitive dancer until 2021. “I started it [dance] when I was three years old and my mom worked at my church and she taught dance classes and she was a dance major in college and so she always liked it, so she put me in it [dance classes],” Studt said.  She said that she realized that dance was something she wanted to do after finding the art value of it.   �...

“I always push myself to do my best and I know it’s kind of cliché but I’ve always had the opinion that everything you do know now is going to affect what you do in the future,” senior Graham Tabor said.  Throughout his years in high school, Graham said he strived to do his best due to the career path he had chosen, business. Graham also said that he had a mindset of getting things don...

Leaving school early is a common occurrence for Leena Wheeler. In fact, she’s been doing it throughout her entire four years of high school. From school, anywhere from two and a half to five hours are spent practicing every day, dedicating countless hours to her passion every year. “This year I think I've been dancing for 13 years and I've been dancing at St. Louis Ballet my whole life,” W...

This past year, Ethan Xu submitted one single application to Columbia University with low expectations for the outcome. To his surprise, he was admitted.  “That was my main school. I applied there early decision so if I didn't get in for the regular decision round then I probably would’ve applied to like other schools just to see what would happen. I did not expect to get in honestly I didn't...