Joy Walczak from Kent ISD speaks with Holly Lawrence, 11th grade, Bryon Center; Isabel Landero-Mottus, 12th grade, Godfrey-Lee; and Annabelle Vitkauskas, 12th grade, Rockford
Joy Walczak (JW) Welcome to the Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast, where we celebrate student success one dream at a time. Or in today's case, we're going to talk to three students who are all part of our Student Leadership Community here at Kent ISD. I'd love to have each of you introduce yourselves. Holly, why don't you start?
Holly Lawrence (HL) Sure. My name's Holly Lawrence, and I'm a junior at Byron Center High School.
(JW) Terrific. And your name is?
Annabelle Vitkauskas (AV) My name's Annabelle Vitkauskas, and I'm a senior at Rockford High School.
(JW) All right. And we also have Isabelle here with us today.
Isabel Landero-Mottus (IM) My name is Isabel Landero-Mottus and I'm a senior at Lee High School.
(JW) Well, thanks to all of you for joining us today. We'd love to talk to you about what you're dreaming of and maybe what's happening in school right now that's helping you to make those dreams come true. Holly, would you like to start?
(HL) Sure, of course. So my dream is to, career-wise, I want to be a dentist. So I'm taking classes that I think are going to help get me there. I also play golf, so I really want to play golf in college. So that's like another one of my dreams.
(JW) Those are terrific dreams and I hope education is helping make them come true. We'll get back to that in just a minute. But first Annabelle, how about you? What are you dreaming about?
(AV) Yeah, of course. Since I was little, my dream has always been to be a professional dancer. I've always just loved dance and I want to choreograph and teach dance when I'm older, as well as be instructed in yoga and Pilates. I guess throughout school I've taken lots of fitness classes that have helped me with that and as well as being on a studio dance team as well as the high school dance team at my school.
(JW) Wonderful. And Isabel, how about you?
(IM) Well, for me, my dreams career wise are definitely like, I'm thinking of going into public policy when I go into college. That is kind of stemmed from the work I've done at a Youth Grant Committee at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. But also right now I started the boys volleyball team at my school and I'm being able to coach it, which is like, it's just like a really nice way to like kind of give like an end to like my high school career and I definitely want to play in college.
(JW) Fantastic. So Isabel, tell me a little bit more about your experience with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.
(IM) Well, I mean, I started when I was a like a freshman my teacher he was like I think you’d be really great for this I think you know, go interview, go apply, and you know I've never really had never had the opportunity to do anything outside of my school. So I was like, you know what, why not? And so I go and have an interview and I get in and it's just like, it's been probably the most transformative part of my high school experience because I just got to meet so many people. Because I go to a pretty small school, it's majority Hispanic, so I've been around that my whole life being Hispanic as well. And I get to meet so many different people from the Grand Rapids community. I got to do some of the work that I never thought I would be able to do at my school. And now, as a senior, I'm on the adult board, actually, as one of the youth trustees. And it's just been really great, in general, just to have that experience and be able to see the opportunities it's given me to reach my dreams as well.
(JW) And the leadership skills you're developing there seem like they're very much in line with the leadership skills all of you are developing here in our Student Leadership Community. Holly, can you tell us how the experience here at Kent ISD has shaped you?
(HL) So for me personally, I never really pictured myself in a leadership position like this. I always kind of thought that I'd be one of those people that, I'm really good at when I'm given rules, I'm good at following them and executing them to the best of my ability, but I never really thought about myself in a leadership position. Our principal, Mr. Reedy, gave me this opportunity and at first, I was kind of uncomfortable. like, I've never really been in a leadership position. I don't know how to function like that. I'm just, I'm used to being a follower. So I, I feel like I've definitely come out of my shell. I've learned a lot of helpful life skills here. And, um, I know that I'll definitely carry that with me, like public speaking, I feel like has gotten a little bit better. Um, and just stuff like that. It's just, it's been very important and, um, it's changed me in many ways.
(JW) Great to hear that. Annabelle, you are also part of a leadership community probably in your dance world. Can you tell us how dance helps to also empower you and make your dreams come true?
(AV) Yeah, so on my dance team at my school, I was a captain of the team. I just, being like, dance has always been a learning process for me. It's always been something to improve upon. So I guess just going throughout life, you learn so many new things and recently, as a senior, I've learned more about the professional world of dance. And honestly, just being at my school dance team really helps with that because we go to Nationals and we experience different teams from around the world. And it's really cool to just have that knowledge that'll take me into college and stuff like that.
(JW) Have there been any special teachers or mentors in your life that are helping to empower you as well?
(AV) Yeah, I actually have my dance team coach. She is a therapist and she's also our coach, obviously. She's overall just a really great person. And she's taught me so much about just the dance team world and other topics such as mental health, which we do talk about here. So that's really nice that I can incorporate those topics together and just learn about things that will help me in the future.
(JW) Great. Isabel, when you're looking ahead, say five years from now, where do you see yourself?
(IM) Well, I'm probably still going to be in school. So that's something maybe, hopefully, I'll finally decide exactly what career I'm going to, just being able to finally do something and give back to my family, but also going to something that allows me to give back to a broader part of my community is just everything I want. Also, maybe a D1 volleyball player, but we'll see about that.
(JW) Well, sports do play a very important part in our growth, in our life, in our development. And Holly, I wanted to come back to you, your dream of being a dentist.
(HL) Yeah.
(JW) Why is it important for educators, like us, to ask you about your dreams and how does that help you make your dreams come true?
(HL) I mean, for me in particular, I know dentistry and anything in the medical field along those lines, it's very competitive. I mean, I've known I wanted to be a dentist or I've had this idea since I was maybe, I don't know, 10 years old. So I've always kind of had it in the back of my mind that I need to be doing things that make me stand out so that when I get to the point where I'm applying for these schools, that I have a background and the skills necessary to be able to get in and achieve my goals. So, I think that having my educators and the people that are able to help me get there know what my goals are, it's just taking that step forward to making sure that I'm doing everything that I can to be who I want to be in the future .
(JW) And really to help prepare you, and all of you, to make your dreams come true. Annabelle, when you look ahead, where do you see yourself in, let's say, ten years?
(AV) Ten years seems like a long time, but I definitely would see myself graduating college with a degree in dance. And I would love to join a dance company or even, I'm not sure if I want to really go into the professional world and become a backup dancer for different people and stuff like that, but I would love to start with a job of teaching and choreographing and dance, so yeah.
(JW) Great. I hope we see you on stage many times in the future. And Isabel, can you share some advice for another student who might be just starting their middle school or high school career, about thinking about their dreams and what's ahead for them?
(IM) I'd say, don't close any doors before they've even been open for you. Because I see a lot of kids in my school, like they, like, It's like really tough. They're like, I don't really care about passing. And they're like, I talked to them like, why do you don't want to like try to like a little harder? Because like, what if you figure out you want to do something later and you're like, oh, shoot, like now I need to like catch up and like, like it's the doors already closed for them to even pursue anything. So I'd say just stay on top of your classwork and don't rush yourself on anything. Everything is experience and you need to take it in as much as you can.
(JW) And Annabel, do you have a little bit of advice for another student who's younger and starting out?
(AV) Yeah, I honestly would say that hard work is key to a lot of things. Hard work really takes you far in life, and you'll start to realize that once you are given more opportunities and you accept those opportunities. I think it's such a skill that you need in life, and school definitely teaches you that. And being involved in different things and just those extracurriculars, being a leader, and just taking that initiative to really try and put all your effort into everything you do really helps you.
(JW) And Holly, some last words from you?
(HL) I would say just keep your mind open. Like, no matter if you know what you want to do, if you don't know, just make sure that you explore every option because the most unexpected thing might be the one thing that makes you happiest in life.
(JW) Wonderful advice from all of you. Thank you so much for talking with us today. We really enjoyed this conversation.
(All) Yeah, thank you.
(JW) Well, thanks for being part of our Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast. I also want to thank everyone for listening today, too. If you know a student who dreams big, we would love to hear about them and share their story as well. You can share your ideas and hear more dream stories at KentISD.org/your dream. I'm Joy Walczak. The Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast is presented by Kent ISD in partnership with WGVU.
