We’re in school for about 13 years starting with kindergarten. Growing up and going through school, there’s times when you have more freedom than others and there’s times when you are not allowed to participate in certain things because you have to wait until you are in a certain grade.

When you reach your Senior year, you are given more leniency and more opportunities pertaining to school, but it is also a time to take every moment in. Throughout senior year, emotions can be flying due to the realization that sports, classes, some friendships, and memories that live on forever come to an end. We change drastically over the years. We lose and gain friendships, we acquire new tastes and styles and it’s the time we branch off and somewhat discover who we really are.

Born on 11/11 (she turned 11 on 11/11), Senior Meg Stein is more than happy she’s finally a senior and has learned a lot about herself, life, and other people all throughout middle school but more so in high school. “High school taught me to really focus on myself and to understand who I am as a person and not be so wrapped up with the parties on the weekend or what everyone else is doing.”

Ever since she was little, her sport was volleyball, but that quickly changed her freshman year. “I actually started out playing volleyball and had no intention of running… but I decided to try Cross Country freshman year and fell in love with it! I also played softball through sophomore year and really liked playing, but XC is my sport and and also my passion.”

Something most people haven’t considered doing something as creative as this, but Stein designs her own cakes and also designs her own henna tattoos. “I actually just started designing cakes! I love being creative and was obsessed with Cake Boss growing up! I also design my own henna tattoos so the job just fits my artsy side.” When I asked Stein how she got into the hennas and designing cakes. “YouTube and fascination with the hennas on the beach. Every time I would go on vacation or go to the beach I would always get a henna tattoo and thought it would be interesting to try and make and design my own… so that’s exactly what I did.”

In Stein’s free time, she likes playing her ukulele, running, and riding her horse. “My family has always raised horses and my parents have also ridden horses, so it kind-of got passed down in the family and of course I took on that role and kept the line going, and I absolutely love it! I’m also self taught with the ukulele because I wasn’t a huge fan of the guitar and the ukulele was easier for me to learn.”

Getting to know more about Stein was interesting because we share similar interests that I never knew we had. After high school, Stein hopes to attend Miami University next fall, majoring in pre-law. She also hopes to double major in political science and journalism. Stein’s favorite subject is English.

Seniors act as a role model and set an example for the underclassman because they have been through all of the hard classes and endured each and every grade just like the freshman starting out. Seniors also have higher expectations because they have walked these halls, are used to the transitioning of classes and are very familiar with the rules that apply to the school. We all start from somewhere, and we’ve all been a nervous freshman trying to find our classes on the first day of school.

As one of our Top Dogs, Stein sets a great example for younger high school students every day and offers them this advice: “High school can, and very well will change you, some things for the better some things serve more as a lesson. Either way you look at it, the best thing to do is make the most of it.”