Liam Solan is a current junior involved in MUN, student athletic training, and more. In regards to his involvement, Solan stated that, “Inside of school I am involved in a lot of AP classes and like honors society you know, the works. Outside of school there’s a lot of extracurriculars like Model UN,  Sustainability, student athletic training, stuff that’s, you know, fun like that.”

When asked about what he was excited for for the year ahead, Solan joked, “The End,” but then went on to say, “I am excited to learn more and really commit myself to getting the most out of my extracurriculars and classes as possible.” When Solan was questioned about his least favorite classes, he said,  “I’ve had a couple classes that I’m not particularly fond of [laughter]. Overall I don’t think they are that detrimental to my junior year. But…” Solan then went on to say something regarding his eyes and a rusty spoon in reference to his not so enjoyable classes.

Olivia Wiebe is also a junior, and is part of Bellarmine’s theater program and the band, both of which are activities that were heavily affected by the pandemic. Wiebe talked about the return to normal for theater, and said, “I guess it’s good, it’s really nice to be back in person.  It’s easier to meet people that way and we had a lot of people show up for like crew and stuff yesterday so that was really exciting.” Wiebe, on the topic of live performances and how she feels about the prospect of them, said, “Good. Kind of nervous because it hasn’t happened in a really long time, and I haven’t actually had to memorize things, so we’ll see how that goes.” Wiebe elaborated on her position as an upperclassman, and stated, “I feel like there’s a responsibility to meet everyone, but it’s okay because I like doing that. And people ask me questions about how things work and I’m like ‘I don’t know I’ve never been here’ but, no, I’m good with it.”

Genevieve Hogoboom is a recent transfer student who joined the class of 2023 this year. Hogoboom spoke about what she was most excited for in the upcoming year, saying, “I’m excited for all the events and football games and homecoming, I really think they’re really fun and I enjoy them.” She elaborated, discussing what she was disappointed in regarding the upcoming year, saying, “My least favorite part is probably coming in as a transfer and a lot of people have developed relationships, and navigating that can be difficult, but I have found quite a few good friends, so it’s just picking and choosing what you want to spend your time learning about.” Hogoboom talked about the feeling of coming to Bellarmine late, stating, “It is a little difficult because some people are pretty closed off already and aren’t looking for new friends, but then there’s other groups where its like I met my friend Reese and she totally welcomed in and I feel like I’ve found my place.”

Chloe Mau is a student that is heavily involved with the Bellarmine community, serving on ASB, leading the Model UN program, and being a co-founder of the Debate Discourse and Disputes club, which are all just part of what she participates in at Bellarmine. Of course,with this workload, alongside high level courses, it had to be difficult to stay on top of everything and remain sane. Mau said, “Well I’m not sane, that’s what I can say, first and foremost. But I would say the best way I can stay on top of my tasks and what is due is really just keeping a planner. I feel that something physical and something ruminant of keeping track of your schedule and keeping track of what is due is probably the most helpful thing Ive been able to do. And just like I did for other people, you don’t need to overwhelm yourself with including yourself in leadership roles, outside of school, your extracurriculars, make sure you know what your boundaries are, and what you can really take on in your workload so you don’t stress yourself out too much.” Mau further discussed her role on the ASB, and talked about the difficulty of coming out of two incomplete years. Mau said, regarding the difficulty of planning on ASB, that,“…we haven’t been able to have as many meetings as I had hoped, but there are a lot of topics that we’ve been able to discuss in the few meetings that we’ve had and there are definitely a lot of things that we can change for the school this year, especially when moving back to in person, I feel like the best thing that we can do is make sure that the freshmen, first and foremost, and the people returning are feeling most welcomed….”