Katie Reyna is a senior at Gavit High School. Reyna is a well-rounded student. From excellent academics, to being a dedicated athlete who is a two-time state gold medalist for her vocals at the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA), one can say that Reyna does it all! Sports and music have always been an important aspect of Reyna’s life. Reyna values sports because they have taught her valuable life lessons.
“Volleyball taught me that working out can be fun. Football taught me to get back up no matter how hard you’ve been knocked down- to persevere. Track taught me that sometimes running is good. Wrestling taught me that life is a mental game and that any expectation can change in the matter of a second,” said Reyna.
Music is a precious gift that Reyna holds close to her heart. Music has been in Reyna’s life since she was little, and it has always been an important aspect in her life.
“Music is something that is calming to me, whereas sports are there to get you pumped up and energized or to release anger. I’ve always said, ‘the day that I can no longer sing is the day that I have lost almost everything’,” Renya said.
Although many people assume that a female on the football team is playing the position of kicker, they were wrong in Reyna’s case. Reyna played the position of wide receiver and she absolutely loved it!
“So many cool opportunities resulted from playing: having witnessing a Friday Night Lights from a players perspective, to getting tackled and tackling others, gaining about seventy brothers, having endless laughs and arguments, just having the opportunity to prove (mainly to myself) that I can do anything that I put my mind to, and having amazing coaches who encouraged me to be the best that I could on and off the field,” said Renya.
Reyna was also a part of the Natural Helpers Retreat Rainbow Staff. The Natural Helpers Retreat is a national program that is created to support students. Reyna had the opportunity to experience the Retreat as a junior and decided to come back as a senior to help coordinate it. Reyna wanted to make the Natural Helpers Retreat an amazing experience for the 2019 attendees.
“I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to experience something like this at least once in their life, whether it is through this program or not. I also hope that every school adds either this program or a similar program to their school so that many students everywhere can experience something like this,” Renya said.
Reyna will attend Purdue University West Lafayette in the fall. At Purdue, Reyna will major in Pre-Professional Health Science and minor in Psychology so she can achieve her goal of becoming a surgeon or going into “pediatrics, neonatology, and/or obstetrician/gynecology.”
Reyna’s advice for students: keep moving forward and take time for yourself when you’re feeling stressed.
“To anyone like me who tries to take on anything and everything, you eventually realize that it’s hard and can even be stressful at the time - but, keep going, do you, and make time for yourself so that you don’t get burned out.”
What's happened?
On Wednesday, February 27, Gavit’s Academic Super Bowl Team traveled to Lowell High School to compete in the Invitational Competition. Although the team may be a “Super Bowl” Team, the Academic Super Bowl Team has nothing to do with football. Students who are a part of the Academic Super Bowl Team compete in six different disciplines: English, math, fine arts, science, social studies, and interdisciplinary (which includes questions from all disciplines). The students are asked questions about how their discipline relates to this year’s topic: the Fertile Crescent.
The Gavit Academic Super Bowl Team excelled at the competition! The fine arts team and the English team both won third place. Currently, the Gladiators are diligently preparing for their regional competition at Merrillville High School on Tuesday, April 16. Good luck to the Gladiator Academic Super Bowl Team!
What’s Coming Up?
In Gavit’s hallways, questions like “what are you doing during Spring Break” are constantly being heard. After working hard for the first nine weeks of second semester, the Gladiators are ready for a break! One thing every Gladiator can agree on is they will all be sleeping in on their first couple days of Spring Break! After all, the Gladiators deserve to sleep in because of their diligent work on their grades throughout the first half of the semester.
After Spring Break is over, it is crunch time for the band and choir to prepare for the Indiana State School Music Association large ensemble competition. Band and choir have both been working hard the past couple of months to perfect the pieces that they are playing. Good luck to the Gladiator band and choir as they go to compete at ISSMA!