Features Staff

Meet Lena Sabaka, a 15 year old journalist with a passion for teaching, writing, and reading. Lena was born August 27, 2008. The name Lena means “light”. She was given the nickname “Lena Beana'' by her parents. Lena is a sophomore here at the Brown School, and this is her first year attending Ms. Neysa Jones’ Journalism class. Lena is one of seven siblings, and is one of the most creative children in her family.

After graduating, Lena sees herself in college, collecting a teaching degree in order to teach special needs children. She would prefer to stay in Kentucky to achieve this goal. Lena still is unsure of what college she wants to attend. 

Lena is a big reader, which she says is probably her favorite thing to do. She describes herself as creative, introverted, and sympathetic. Lena is really caring towards others, but her favorite person is her youngest sister. 

Lena is not a big animal person, but her favorite is a fox. She discovered this favoritism when she was riding in an area around her house. They then spotted the fox, which was an uncommon sight in that area, and she developed love for the animal. Although her favorite animal is a fox, she wishes to have a cat as a pet. 

If Lena were to win the lottery, the first thing she would do is care for her parents and siblings. This shows how amazing Lena Sabaka is as a person. I think she is a great addition to this class and the newspaper.

15 year old Kailey Stolte is determined and invested in everything she does. Being an incredibly strong student, and a focused individual, with a wide array of hobbies, it is clear that she is passionate about the things she enjoys and puts time and effort into everything she has accomplished.

Stolte has been a student at the Brown School for 8 years and has flourished in the academic setting. Not only is she an enthusiastic member of the environmental club, but is also an avid writer, artist, future science olympiad, and journalist. Her talents don't stop there. In addition to being a wonderful student in school, she also pursues academics in her free time, such as learning French, taking classes over the summer, and honing her writing skills.

Now, let's get into more about what makes Kailey Kailey; Kailey has two twin brothers and one half sister. She also has many pets: two dachshunds and a fish, all whom she loves very much. 

When she isn't studying, Kailey enjoys playing tennis, creating art, and listening to music. While playing for the Brown tennis team, she also loves to practice by playing with her family. Additionally, she is a very talented artist. Although familiar with many types of media, she prefers to work with watercolors and pencils. She is also very fascinated by architecture and likes to sketch buildings and designs. She loves to perfect her art as much as she can, even taking in-school art assignments home to continue working on them. Some of her pieces don’t even end as they began; many start as one thing and end up as something else.

What is art without enjoying music while drawing? Kailey enjoys a vast variety of music, but typically leans to more indie music and k-pop. Some favorite bands and artists of hers include Twice, Red Velvet, Aespa, Beebadoobee, Clairo, and The Marias, which she mentioned to me because I enjoy listening to them too.

Although Stolte already has a very respectable repertoire, she has even more planned for the future. She aspires to attend Yale, but also has a list of schools she would like to attend, such as Northwestern, Boston University, or Columbia. She states that she aims high for success, but also wants to be realistic when applying for schools.

Where is this high education pointing to? Well, Kailey plans to be an international journalist. With her go-with-the-flow attitude and adaptability, she plans to travel Europe and report. Of course it's always good to have a backup plan, so if journalism ends up not being the career path to follow, Stolte would want to pursue professional writing. It is clear she has a passion for creating, whether that is through her art, writing, or influencing change though the community. We know she will make it far and have a great impact on the world.

Cara Jackson is a new member that we are so thrilled to have on our Journalism team for many reasons. Cara is a creative person with several talents, so let's find out what they love to do outside of writing and reporting.

Cara is a 15-year-old freshman at the J. Graham Brown High School. She enjoys taking art classes, and loves to use her artistic abilities outside of school as well. Cara said, “One thing I am very proud of is my style. I love to be able to create new outfits every day. Though I’ve been sort of interested in the same style since around 4th grade, I’ve worked very hard to build it up throughout the years.” Creating is one of many things Cara loves to do which includes making art projects in art class, styling her outfits, making jewelry, sewing, baking, and writing. 

One thing you may not know about Cara is that she plays the electric guitar. She takes private lessons at School of Rock. She plays on a blue and white Telecaster Guitar, and she even put some stickers on it. I asked her what her favorite genres or bands she loves to play or listen to are, and she said, “On guitar, I play a lot of different genres, but outside of guitar I really like Alex G, Ichiko Aoba, and Beabadoobee.” Though she isn’t in a band, playing guitar is one of her favorite things to do to pass time. 

Once Cara graduates high school, she hopes to go to college but isn’t sure where yet. In about 10 years she would like to be fully graduated and living by herself where she can hopefully pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist. Ever since she was young she’s had a huge interest in oceanic creatures, a seal being her favorite. “I’ve always loved sea creatures. One of my favorite activities to do is visit the aquarium, even though there isn’t one nearby. I really enjoy seeing all the animals up close. I think they’re all so cool and unique,” Cara stated. Before she starts diving into the world of marine biology, a job in a craft store would satisfy her liking. This ties back into her love of art.

A few more fun facts about our new member are…

• If she could have one superpower, she would have teleportation.

• She would love to travel to Paris or New York.

• Her biggest fear is bugs, especially centipedes and millipedes!

• Her favorite color is pink.

• She has a female cat named Purin.