Riley Matz

Character: I think I demonstrate character and having/sticking to strong morals and values because I pride myself on being a very honest and straightforward person. Now obviously I can tell when the full truth or bluntness may not be necessary or may do more harm than good, but I always strive to be not only my most honest self with people but also to be clear and transparent through honesty. I think the best and strongest relationships are built on honesty because even if you did something wrong or bad or whatever I’d much rather be told the truth and work through it from there rather than be lied to about it because then not only have you done something upsetting but you’ve also lost my trust. And this obviously goes both ways, like I don’t want to be lied to and I won’t lie to others. Furthermore, while honesty is one of, if not, my biggest value/moral I also highly value the things most of us do like being kind, understanding, thoughtful, etc. And while I know those are basic and cliche they got to be that way for a reason, because they're important. So I always try my best to be kind and welcoming to people because I don’t want anyone to feel left out or anything and I try to be understanding because I will stand by the fact that there are two sides to every story and I want to hear every perspective before jumping to conclusions or making decisions or anything like that because acting without all the proper information could just make things worse. I feel I also can be very competitive which, for me, also ties into not being a quitter. I always want to do the best I can on most things, if not everything, because I do like a sense of competition and honestly beating others (obviously without tearing anyone down or anything like that though) and beating myself. This for me ties into not being a quitter because I can be so competitive and so stubborn I very often refuse to give up on things (sometimes to a fault) because I want to prove to myself that I am capable and I can do it.

Service: In terms of service I honestly feel as though I may be lacking here a bit. Not so much now, but definitely in my first couple of years of high school. I’ve changed and grown a lot and have found much more confidence and assurance in who I am which has led me to be more outgoing and more involved, but I was nothing like that my freshman and sophomore years. So while I’ve always been involved in stuff like extracurriculars and have always spoken in class discussions and to classmates and whatnot, I find that I’ve done so much more in my junior and senior years. I am definitely more outspoken than I used to be and I try to put myself in more “uncomfortable” situations to talk to my peers more and try to be even more present and involved. I feel that I can say I’ve come a long way since my first two years of high school and I now do a pretty good job of being involved. Aside from that however I have always tried to remain in a couple of extracurriculars and/or clubs throughout high school. I have done theater all four years, been a part of thespians for 2-3 years, did track for 2 years, have done trap since 7th grade, and have been a part of numerous clubs such as women's club, Stuco, dude be nice, and publications/yearbook, just to name a handful. Additionally, I’ve also been/am on the board, have been a rep, or have had a leadership position for many of my extracurriculars and clubs.

Achievement: While I’m not a disbeliever of “God-given talents”, per se, I also firmly believe that even though you can have a gift or just naturally be good at something, there’s still so much hard work and commitment that has to be put in to achieve more. And I say that because ever since I started trap I’ve always had a knack for it and it’s something that came pretty easily to me so I was quickly able to work my way up. However, even though the sport is something that’s more natural for me I still put in countless hours of practice, commitment, and so much more into bettering myself and my skill. By doing that and by taking it seriously I have won medals, been ranked in the top 3 best females in the state for years, qualified for state and nationals every year, been one of the top shooters on the team, lettered numerous times, and more. Nonetheless, even though I’m good at trap and have a name in the sport I had a ROUGH season last time around; I did really bad and lost a lot of my standings and whatnot, but despite struggling and not being able to find or fix the issue I continued to stick with the sport (and still have/am) and refused to just call it quits. Even when I was feeling just defeated or unmotivated by how bad my season was going I continued to put in the time and effort and now I’m getting back to my old standards and I have high hopes for my final season. Additionally, I have put pretty much the same amount of time, effort, and commitment into theater. When it comes to theater I don’t like being on stage in front of crowds so I’ve always opted to do the behind the scenes and be a part of crew. I started my freshman year and the dynamics of the department have changed A LOT since then, but ever since my sophomore year I started taking a leadership role in crew and that’s something that became official in I believe my junior year. So that being said I’ve been head of crew for about 2-3 years, even doing/leading enough to get enough points to be inducted into our Thespian troupe which I’m now on the board for. Lastly, I feel another area where I’ve shown achievement is with my grades and honors/AP classes. While I can’t deny I/they have struggled for numerous reasons and I’m definitely not valedictorian or anything like that I can say I’m proud of what I’ve done with my grades, especially considering the things I’ve struggled with. Even though my grades have dropped here and there, I’ve never had anything below a C (at least not for so long that I remember it) and I usually was/can get those C’s back up before they go on a report card. Not to mention I did much better with my grades in my junior year and especially this year. I’ve had straight A’s this year with a B here and there every so often (only in math though), so I feel I can be proud of my grades and my GPA. With that said I have also been in honors and AP classes for as long as I can remember and I always strive to put out my best work in all my classes and very rarely just rush through an assignment to get it done.

Leadership: I would say I have demonstrated leadership the most through theater. As I mentioned, I’ve had a leadership role in crew for years now and it’s honesty taught me A LOT. Now, I’m not going to dive into all the things and lessons I’ve learned because I’d be typing and you’d be reading for forever and a day, but I will say that I feel I was able to make theater/crew a very enjoyable and safe space for many. I don’t want to sound like I think I’m all that (if I haven’t accidentally done that already) but I can say I’m pretty proud of the community and relationships I’ve built both for myself and for others through crew. I mean, I’ve even had the current crew kids tell me that they don’t think crew would be half of what it is without me and that just makes me so proud and happy. Regardless, even without people's kind words, I’ve always done what I can to make crew inclusive and fun for everyone who joins because I know what it’s like to be left out and excluded from all the fun and activities. So because of that I always try and find something for everyone to be doing or to try and I’ve always done my best to teach everyone the stuff I know about building and power tools and everything so that they can do it on their own because obviously I’m not going to be here forever and I want them to be able to succeed more than I ever did. Furthermore, even though trap is technically more of an individual sport, I still try and lead/teach the younger and/or newer people as an upperclassmen with years of experience in the sport. Now trap can be finicky so there’s a fine line between giving someone pointers and overstepping but I think that just from being around the sport and the people for so long I can get a pretty decent read on when to say something and when not to. Anyways, when I’m on a line with someone, whether they’re new or seasoned and just having a hard time, I try and offer some advice or tips/pointers from what I’ve noticed because even though it may not seem like it, trap can be an incredibly frustrating sport and having a rough round sucks. So I just like to try and help people if they want it because I want everyone to be able to do the best they can. And the last thing I’ll mention here is Stuco. I didn’t join Stuco until this year and I can’t really say I have a huge role/part in it but I’m still proud of myself for going outside of my comfort zone and doing it and involving myself in being a part of leading the student body.