1. Do you think participation in extracurricular activities should be required by the school?

“As someone who is an introvert, and also doesn’t like interacting with random people, I still say yes. I feel that doing things like Speech and Debate, Eco Club, and Student Government helps give me more connections and also figure out what I am more interested in. With Student Government it gave me an opportunity to get more involved at Lewis and Clark, which I always thought about being a teacher, maybe not for elementary school (they’re kind of crazy). I think it helps you find your interests and find what you don’t like. [For example] with Speech and Debate, yeah, definitely not going to be a lawyer, that was not fun.”

Hanna, an introvert, strongly believes that it should be required by the school to be a part of extracurricular activities. Her various club and activity experiences has led her to her conclusion that she wants to go into the education field and teach, “With Student Government it gave me an opportunity to get more involved at Lewis and Clark. I always thought about being a teacher”. Darne strongly believes that extracurricular activities will help students find their passion for what they want to be in life, but more importantly establishing what students don’t want to be in life. Join at least one club or sports team in your four year duration at Sentinel High School.

2. Which one memory will you remember forever about your time at Sentinel High School?

“Here is a negative one. When we [Hanna and myself] were writing essays for Ms. Conner’s class about college, I was getting into some pretty personal stuff about my mental health and then I found out the hard way that the school has access to view anything on your drive that is deemed as ‘suicidal’, even though that wasn’t even what it was about. I had the word ‘die’ in there, so then I got called into Rettig’s office like I was getting expelled or something. He then read my paper to me that was very personal. It was not a good time. It was a complete invasion of privacy and I feel that it is very important to make sure the students are doing okay and they’re not suicidal, I don’t think calling them into the office and reading them a possible suicide note is the best way to go about it. Instead, they should go into depth about coping mechanisms and state that your peers are here to support.”

One memory that Hanna will never forget is when she got called into the principal’s office about a college piece she wrote. Darne was writing to a scholarship for a class assignment and was talking about a personal moment in her life and mentioned the word “die” in her drive. She was then called into Mr. Rettig’s office and he read her the ‘concerning’ part in her essay that was contextually flagged because of the negative word. Darne thought she was going to get expelled, at first thought of the mysterious situation, so she was very worried. She then found out the hard way that the school is monitoring her private drive. The situation flustered her and Ms. Connor, her English teacher. Even though it was a negative experience, it will be an experience Darne will not forget. On a lighter note, she also remembers times where two kids in her orchestra class, Sam and Tate, would lead class stretches. This moment is engrained in her memory because she got to witness, her usually stressed orchestra teacher, be genuinely happy. Moments like these make Darne remember why she stuck with orchestra for so many years.

“I’ll put a good one in here! In orchestra, these two kids, Sam and Tate, would lead stretches. It was really great because Mr. Davis is usually a very anxious person, so it was really good seeing him not be stressed out. In general, orchestra was a really good experience. I gotta do what I love to do, play music.”

3. Do you think high school prepares you for college?

“ It depends what class[es] you take. Some of the classes, like WRIT [101] where we write college essays, even if we do go off topic a lot, but I think in general it is very beneficial to not just write structural essays. Colleges actually want deep writing and it prepares you for that. On the other hand, some classes just give you busy work. I love you Ms. Reinicke, but Honors English 2 made my anxiety significantly worse because we had to do really long articles of the week, which wouldn’t be bad if we have other long ass assignments. A lot of the stuff I’ll never have to do again. Schools are missing the aspect of ‘lateral thinking’ that Ms. Conner talks about it all the time, but schools teach a concept where there is only one answer and any different answer is not right. Then you’re stuck ‘in the box’.”

Hanna Darne strongly believes that there are classes that prepare students for college, but there are also classes that are based on copious amounts of ‘busy work’ and nothing is educationally achieved. Her most educationally rich class was WRIT101. The class provided her with college level writing instruction, even if the class did go off topic a lot. There were also classes in her four years, like Honors English, that was just mounds of ‘busy work’ and wasn’t educationally rich like her other English class. Darne just preaches the idea of asking around and being curious before committing to a class that isn’t educational for the path students are planning on achieving.

4. Who has given you the best advice?

“ A bunch of my teachers and parents have said this, but ‘if you don’t like someone the chances are after high school you will never see them again,’ which is great! Spending a lot of time worrying about someone else will make your high school experience worse. But my favorite advice from my therapist is ‘never hold yourself to higher standards than you do towards other people, there should be a balance.’ If you do that, in the end, you will get trampled on”.

The best advice that Hanna Darne has ever received is two pieces of advice. A lot of people told her the following, “if you don’t like someone the chances are after high school you will never see them again”. Darne made it clear that stressing about what people think of you or how they treat you is pointless because high school years skim by and they’re gone forever within a blink of an eye. The second piece of advice that Darne was given was “ never hold yourself to higher standards than you do towards other people, there should be a balance”. Her therapist gave her that advice and it stuck with her. If your standards are in hell for other people, either raise their  standards or lower your self standards. Both very good quotes to live by throughout your life and high school experience.

5)  Describe your senior year in three words.

When asking Hanna Darne how she would describe her senior year, she stated the following three words that every high schooler should live by, “ Yas, bitch, slay”.