An Interview with Helena Chernosky, Class of '24

Helena Chernosky, Class of ‘24, is admired by her friends for her kindness, commitment, and ability to make anyone laugh. Over the past four years, she believes she’s grown a lot as a person, and she’s excited to see what the future holds. 

Helena is involved in many activities here at SHS. She plays violin in the Concert Orchestra, and has been an orchestra president for the past two years. She’s also on the varsity soccer and tennis teams. Despite playing soccer since the age of four, she was “really thinking that I wouldn’t make the varsity soccer team… because there are so many talented people. When I was pulled aside and told that I made the team… I went to my car and I cried. When you [accomplish] things that you’ve worked really hard for… it’s amazing. It sends your spirits up.” Helena has also been a member of the Psychology Club for the past four years.

In addition to her commitments at school, Helena has many hobbies. She loves long-distance running while listening to music, noting that her favorite artists are Mitski and Tyler, the Creator. Her favorite video games are Minecraft, Terraria, and Roblox. “My brother got me into video games, because when he got an Xbox for Christmas, I was getting dolls and stuff… I have so much fun playing with my friends on the weekends. Maybe it’s the senior in me talking, but I love not doing my work and playing Roblox.” Helena also collects vinyls and takes care of her four plants: Phoebe, Gertrude, Delilah, and David.

Next year, Helena will be studying journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. She developed her interest in journalism at a young age: “When I was a kid, I was very drawn to newspapers. My dad always had one that he would read on Sundays, and that was a thing that was a tradition in my house. My dad would read newspapers in the summer on our deck and drink coffee. I would read the articles, and I was so fascinated by them.” As Helena grew older, particularly in middle school, she began to notice she “really liked writing. I didn’t know why. I just really liked putting pen to paper and going off for hours. If there was a group project, I was always the writer.”

She continued by explaining, “In my sophomore year, with my teacher Mrs. Burnett… we had an assignment where we had to write an editorial. I did one on the decriminalization of drugs, and I was in love with it. I realized that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life—I wanted to research, I wanted to talk about things going on in the world, I wanted to interview people.” 

This year, Helena began writing Town Crier’s new “Humans of SHS” column, where she interviews students and teachers in the SHS community. I knew that Helena would be perfect for the job, because she’s very outgoing and communicative. According to Helena, “If I’m having a bad day, I can just gain energy by coming to school and talking to people… I love making jokes with my friends. I like seeing my friends smile. I like seeing my friends laugh. That’s something that I wake up for.”