Senior Spotlight: Quinn Sanderson (12-4)
Helena Saven (12-4)
Tell us about your interest in dogs.
When I was younger I made a Powerpoint slideshow on all the reasons why [my family] should get a dog. We did not get one from that presentation, but they found it years later and remembered I had been wanting one. We finally got one, her name is Lulu and she is six years old. She’s amazing. I did something with the Penn Working Dog Center at one point in time; training working dogs because it’s a really intense process.
What’s something you’ve gained from being a soccer coach?
I learned how to listen to kids and ask questions that get to the right answer. You can’t always just ask what’s wrong. You need to pick up on certain things, observe what might be wrong, and then ask particular questions that get at the root issue. I tend to talk fast and loud so it has definitely pushed me to communicate differently.
Quinn and Mr. Roache on the soccer field.
Photo courtesy of Quinn Sanderson (12-4)
As president of peer counseling, what is the best lesson you teach?
The consent lesson is the most important in going over the variance of consent, it’s more than “no is no.” I think it’s really important to discuss power dynamics and coercion with them, because that’s what’s more frequently happening at that age. Plus it's just good for the future. They tend to enjoy the lesson on drugs and alcohol, which sounds bad but the kids get really into it. Since it is a counselor-sponsored club, it is geared more toward prevention and steering against dangerous behaviors. We try to make the lesson takeaways more on safety for them and their friends. They also like bullying and cliques. There’s usually some interesting conversations with that one.
What are you most looking forward to during your Ethics Bowl trip to North Carolina?
I’m going to be completely honest, we are so unprepared. We got a whole new set of cases for nationals and we have not gone through them all despite the fact that it’s in a week. I’m excited to hang out with the other members of the team because we’re not going in with high expectations of winning. A lot of other schools memorize scripts and put a lot of work into prepping these cases and making sure they’re ironed through. We more so have a conversation in front of the judges. Ethics bowl is a lot like debate, except you make your own stance based on the case and you build up all your reasoning behind why one stance is the most ethical to poke holes in other platforms.
What does a normal day in the life of a lifeguard look like?
For me it’s very fun because I’m on a lake. It’s standing in the sun and counting heads a lot in the water. The most stressful part of being on the lake is that you can’t see if a kid goes under because it’s murky. So you really just got to be counting heads a lot. I love it though. I love swimming and the sun. It’s just four hours on your feet keeping your eye on the water because you can’t sit down. There’s a bunch of random Red Cross rules. For example, you can’t wear more than one article of clothing because that would slow you down in the water. I mostly do it in the summer but I might work at getting a different kind of license for a swimming teacher certification so I could give some lessons during the spring.
What advice would you give your eight-grade self?
Join a lot of clubs. If you like sports, join a fall sport because you’re automatically going to be friends with some upperclassmen. Getting involved in the school makes the experience really fun. I like that I can walk through the hallways and recognize a lot of the people I see. I’m close with Mr. Roache because he coaches soccer and basketball.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
I’ve had days when I come off of coaching or something as a counselor with kids and you can tell something that has helped them a lot. It made a difference. It’s been really satisfying for me and it also surprised me because I’m not a huge kid person. That’s been the highlight of my work experience.
What is your favorite activity at the high school picnic?
If you look around, you can see we have a nice hammock square set up, we have some frisbee, we have some volleyball. I’ve been partaking in sitting and listening to music with my friends. Maybe I’ll dabble in some spikeball or football. I like the picnics. I think they’re nice.
What fictional character do you most relate to?
I actually had to write an answer to this for a college essay prompt and I had no idea. I put Remy, the rat, from Ratatouille. I was drawing straws. It’s because I like cooking and I can be a bit bossy; he got a bit bossy in the kitchen with the rats. There’s some friendship lessons too.
What is your favorite thing to cook?
That changes up a lot. I usually end up with a recipe I really enjoy because I like making changes to it. My favorite is brussel sprouts, but I always make them differently. Gnocchi, too. I like baking, but I tend to not want to eat what I bake because I put too much time into it and then I can’t even look at it because it disgusts me.
What is the first thing you do in the morning?
This surprises a lot of people because I live close to school and I come in late every day, but I actually wake up really early around 6 or 6:30. I like to take my time in the morning. I watch the sunrise pretty frequently on my roof, especially when it’s not cold out. I’m a big coffee fan. But the first thing is I make my bed. That’s important to get into a productive mindset.