Sophomore Olivia Oglesby maintains a 4.096 GPA while also participating on the school’s softball and volleyball teams. Furthermore, she is a part of La Salle’s spirit club, attends volunteer trips, and keeps an active social life.

Oglesby is taking two advanced courses this semester: Honors Chemistry and Honors English II. She said that she finds Honors Chemistry to be her most difficult class. “The tests are really hard and it’s a lot of work,” she said.

Meanwhile, she finds her other honors course, Honors English II, to be less difficult. “Honors English II has been pretty interesting,” she said. “It’s been a challenge, but I think I’m learning a lot in that class.” 

Oglesby also enjoys her Spanish II class. “I like Spanish a lot,” she said. “It’s fun. [We] do a lot of activities.”

Outside of her classes, Oglesby is passionate about volleyball and plays for La Salle’s JV2 team. “I love the sport a lot,” she said. “Over the summer we do summer workouts and open gym… I find [that] really fun.” 

She said that sports have also been an opportunity for her to meet people and form new relationships while in high school. “During the summer going into high school I made a lot of friends [through volleyball],” she said. “I got to meet new people.”

Oglesby especially enjoys her time spent with the softball program. “I’ve made a lot of friends from [softball] and last year we got to travel to California,” she said. “That was really fun. [Since it is] a smaller program, everyone knows each other, and we’re all [super] close.”

Service is another one of Oglesby’s passions. She recently went on a service trip with the Rahab Sisters, a program that brings help to women who have been homeless or involved in trafficking. This was her first service trip through La Salle, but she is already planning to go on more in the future. “There are a couple opportunities that are coming up that I’m going to do as well,” she said.

Her key to managing sports, service, and social life has been practicing time management. “I do my homework when I get it,” she said. “[And] I take time over the weekends to do [schoolwork] and I just make sure that I balance it [with sports] and I make [time for my] social life.”

She said that it is important for her to communicate when she gets stressed. “Getting help from teachers and asking for help when I need it helps a lot,” she said.

Oglesby’s motivation comes from her desire to attend an esteemed university in the future. Over the summer she visited some colleges in the D.C. area, including Georgetown and the University of Virginia. She said that UVA is her dream school because they are known for their law program.

“I want to be a lawyer or something law or writing because [that’s] what I’m best at,” she said. “It’s always kind of been my goal to do that.”

Even though high school can be stressful, Oglesby has enjoyed her experience at La Salle. “It’s been really good,” she said. “I met a lot of new people, and it’s a really inclusive community so it’s been nice… Everyone’s very welcoming, [and] teachers are really great here.”