Vanessa Nhotharack
Graduation is nearing and summer is just around the corner. Around this time of year it’s common for seniors to be spending time with their friends and family before closing the doors of high school and beginning a new chapter of their lives.
This summer Seniors Baylie Anderson and Sophie Roach will be booking their flights for trips out of the country and beginning their journeys to independence.
Baylie Anderson has been apart of West’s varsity volleyball team since sophomore year, is apart of Una Voce, and is DECA’s former charter president and state officer.
Right after graduation Anderson and her best friend, Alex Bower, are packing their bags and heading off to Europe. The duo, along with one of their parents, are traveling to the capitals of Scotland, England, and France.
Anderson said one of the main reasons they chose to visit Europe was to see the medieval castles and tour the location where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.
“I love medieval castles, I love to tour them, and that’s kind of why we picked Scotland…just touring the different castles, getting to know the culture, and eating lots of food, because I love unique food, and again, lots of sightseeing,” Anderson said
Bower said that not only will they hit up the major cities in Scotland, England, and France, but they also plan on stopping in smaller cities, like Nice, France and Brighton, England.
The girls will fly to Edinburgh, Scotland first and plan on viewing the countryside, as well as look at the Edinburgh castle and later tour the capitol.
From Edinburgh they will travel to London and visit the many popular tourist attractions. “I am a big fan of architecture so I am super excited to see the unique mix of modern and historic buildings,” Bower said.
After spending time in London, the girls plan to visit Brighton, which is a coastal city an hour away from the capitol.
“This will be my first trip overseas, but I want to travel and study abroad in college so I hope that this will give me a look into how it would feel to spend a lot of time over there,” Bower said.
Not only is Anderson going to Europe with her best friend, she will also be booking a flight to Honduras for a week. Along her church’s youth group, Anderson volunteered to travel to Honduras for a mission trip to help a local Honduran school.
“What we’re going to do is go to a local Honduran school that has requested our help in fixing their bathrooms to give them running water. While some of us fix that, the rest of us are going to set up a vacation bible school…and just have fun taking care of the kids while we are there for that week,” Anderson said.
Once Anderson returns home, she’ll be back on the road and begin her journey around the states before heading off to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she plans to double major in social entrepreneurship and business management.
After graduation Sophie Roach plans to stay in the midwest for the summer. Roach, along with her boyfriend and a few friends, will be apart of the staff for YouthFront’s camp, located in La Cygne, Kansas.
The staff consists of college students, or those who are just coming out of high school. The camp runs from May 18-August 10. The staff recently came together to discuss future activities for the camp and Roach said they have plans to go visit Colorado and Arkansas over the weekends.
For the past year Roach had been saving for money by selling her excess clothing through an Instagram account and is now prepared to take the next flight down to Croc, Mexico.
On August 10, Roach will uproot her life her in Lee’s Summit and move to Croc for a year. “I want to experience the real world before I go to college,” Roach said.
During her gap year Roach plans on assisting an after-school program by helping elementary school children with their homework and aiding teachers with lesson planning.
When she isn’t teaching, Roach expects to just hang out and relax with the locals.
After her time in Croc is up, Roach will return to the states and move to downtown Kansas City, where she will attend community college for two years through A+. Roach plans to major in Spanish along with design sustainability or economics.
As the seniors make their rounds and close the final chapter of their high school careers, they also open the door to new opportunities. With this new door there’s a new path from which leads to a whole new world.
