By: Alexa Thompson

It’s that horrible time of the year when all the seniors are making their final decisions on where they’re applying and are sending in applications. For some schools, it’s a demanding responsibility. Essay after essay, supplemental after supplemental, check box after check box. Luckily, the Gatton staff work hard to make sure that not only provide us with any documentation or information we need, but they also make sure they know us on a personal level to write outstanding letters of recommendation.

Tracy, our main College Coordinator, has been working hard to make sure every student knows about any scholarship opportunity or any program that might interest him or her. Cheryl, our Academic Opportunities Coordinator, has been searching for summer internships. One of the other incredible things about being Gatton student is the relationships we develop with our “counselors.” (We just call them letter writers.) Nearly every college requires a counselor-written letter from the high school, but for students from schools with 1000+ kids, it can be hard to actually have a relationship with said counselor. Here, students pick the staff member they want to write their letter or rec. This letter writer typically already knows the student pretty well, but then they partner together, have special one-on-one meetings, and further improve their connection. A single staff member writes letters for usually between five to ten students, so each letter conveys a personal relationship with the student.

The staff members work hard to make our application process as easy as possible, and we work back to make it easy for them too.

Alexa Thompson

Last year, the intramural volleyball program for WKU approached before I had time to sign up for a team, so this year I decided over summer to discuss and create teams with some other senior girls. We were able to make a female team of about 10 people. As a spin on our Gatton Academy symbol (the Sierpinski triangle) and because the other teams were named after their sororities, we were named DeltaDeltaDelta.

Unfortunately, the season lasted a short two weeks, four games total. But that didn’t stop us from having so much fun! Going to a school with no real sports teams can be sad for those of us that do love sports and had to leave teams back home. It was exciting to watch not only veteran players return, but also new players being introduced to the game. Two of our games in particular were fun in that the competition was stiff. In both games we won one set but lost the second and third sets. In the last game we played, we had reached the point cap and only lost by one point. I am happy to report that we have not tarnished Gatton’s intramural record. We are still 0-All. (Gatton teams are well known for losing, but we probably have just as much fun as anyone else, if not more.)

Hello new Gatton students and family! I am super excited for the upcoming year as an Avatar and a community leader. I am a senior from Bowling Green, and I attended Bowling Green High School. I chose Gatton because, apart from the close-knit and non-competitive community, I really wanted a more challenging curriculum where I could begin to further explore my interests in biology and foreign language.

In the future, I plan on attending medical school to become a reconstructive surgeon, so this jump start is exactly what I’ve needed. Furthermore, other opportunities have presented themselves such as Study Abroad and STEM Plus. I am taking an advanced track in Arabic because I have been fortunate enough to have previous exposure to the language through the STEM Plus Critical Language track. I have traveled with Gatton to Greece and Harlaxton (England) and hope to travel again in January. I love biology and psychology, which I will be doing research in this fall, and I hate coding.

Some of my passion include Spanish, traveling, and Zumba. This summer I took my first solo trip abroad to Heredia, Costa Rica, where I studied Spanish twenty hours a week. I have also studied in Spain and have traveled to Mexico and Portugal. In my free time, I frequently go to Preston for Zumba classes or just to work out. If anyone has a Wii and wants to challenge me to a Just Dance-off, I’m game. This year I will be co-captaining an intramural volleyball team with another senior, Wendy Cecil.