Once upon a time a short little freshman girl, by the name of Gretchen, walked through the halls of Douglass High School. This freshman was me...At the time I was unaware of who I was and who I would become.

Like any other Freshman, I thought I was where I needed to be. And just like every freshman, I was flat out wrong.

I've never been the student who stands in the front or speaks up to be heard. In fact, just raising my hand in class, or saying, "hello," to someone in the hall can be terrifying for me.

The summer leading into Freshman year I decided that would change.

In order to accomplish my goal, I have proactively pushed myself be involved. I have been apart of KAY, SADD, STUCO, NHS, Band, Madrigals, Leadership of Butler, Scholars Bowl, Forensics,the musical and played Varsity Tennis. I also attended HOBY, STUCO Camp, and Girls State

All throughout my freshmen year, I tried so many different activities but I felt hopeless. I was not the best in any of these activities...I was just average in everything.

Everyone has those moments in their life that changes them and that summer my perception of life changed.

I attended Leadership Camp for STUCO at Emporia State University. Even though I felt average in everything, I could still be a leader.

I set a new goal: Be friendly to everyone.

My Sophmore year, I was elected KAY Vice Pres., Student Body Reporter, and President of SADD.

In those clubs, I had to take on new responsibilities, such as planning After Prom and having fun handing our candy at the elementary to help with their Drug Free Week.

Our Unit Conference for KAY was fast approaching when our president had to move. Suddenly, I was the one who was expected to be in charge of the day. As president I had to give the greeting and farewell to 200+ people. Somehow I manged to survive!

By my Junior year, I was feeling more confident. I was more outgoing, I attended HOBY and Leadership Camp. I even tried out a summer tennis camp at WSU.

Another activity that helped me grow was Leadership of Butler. It is an organization that has juniors from around the county meet once a week at different locations to learn leadership skills from business leaders. Together we developed a project to better our communities. Leadership of Butler taught me how to work with others who saw things from a different perspective than mine.