As students graduate, many leave memories behind to live on in legend at Claremont High School. Often, they struggle to choose how to leave their mark; this senior, though, is likely to be remembered for a long time. Kaitlyn Zhang, known to all those who attend CHS as the host from the daily wolfcast videos, is taking her leave from CHS. From Wolfcast to Speech and Debate, Zhang’s name is irreplaceable in the hearts of all students.
Zhang credits her high school experience to her growth as a young woman. Reflecting on her senior year’s ups and downs, Zhang can confidently say it was by far her best, considering the lessons she learned.
“[Senior year] was very hard but the best year that I’ve had,” Zhang said. “It’s my best year in high school, definitely because of how much I’ve grown and how much I got to experience and go out but it’s also the hardest year of my high school career because [I had to] find the balance between senioritis and getting everything done and trying to graduate.”
After graduation, Zhang plans on attending one of the top public universities in the United States:UCLA. She will be pursuing a communication major with journalism as a backup. Despite this fortunate future for the school’s star, the idea of “college” is still quite new and alien to her. Zhang shares her raw and unfiltered emotions about this, commenting:
“I’m very nervous about college and the future overall because nothing is guaranteed and you don’t know if tomorrow is guaranteed…It’s just a lot to think about when you’re moving to a different environment, meeting new people, without any of your friends or family being there, and going to school…somewhere you don’t know,” Zhang said. “I’m also very excited to move away. It’s very bittersweet to go to college because you meet new people but you also leave people behind and graduate. I’m very excited to graduate.,”
Zhang’s hard work and great personality has brought her great opportunities, but she gives credit to much more than that. She wants to shout out a few people on campus that made her high school experience memorable.
“Shout out to my best friends Luke Roy and Fiona Wu. They are definitely the best people I have ever known and I am very grateful that I met them. Teacher wise I want to shout out Mr. Thomas. He was very influential this year. He helped me a lot. He motivated me to actually go to school and go to class and not fall to senioritis.,”
As she wraps up her CHS career, Zhang leaves us with some of her many wise and encouraging words.
“My advice to […] younger students is to not procrastinate and finish all of your classwork on time because the second that you fall behind on anything it’s going to become a problem,” Zhang said.”The hole is just going to get deeper if you do not climb out of it as soon as possible. Do not have late assignments! You are digging yourself a bigger hole.,”
Though words cannot describe the days she has brightened and the light she shed onto Claremont High School, Zhang is truly one of the most prominent and beautiful souls on campus. From her first “Bye Pack!” to her very last one, Claremont High School has been forever blessed to have its very own Kaitlyn Zhang.
