As junior Peyton Stephens embarks on her second to last year at La Salle, she has continued to stay hopeful and busy during these unprecedented times by working out, baking, and getting involved in numerous clubs.

This year Stephens is a part of the Service, Outdoor, Spirit, Menstrual Advocacy, and Students Against Sexual Abuse clubs, keeping her involved in the community, which is something that is very important to her. 

Last March, when quarantine was put in place, Stephens struggled with adapting to online school. “I miss sitting with all my friends in the classroom, and interacting with everybody,” she said. “[Even the little interactions] I miss a lot.”

Even though school at La Salle has changed a lot from what Stephens experienced her freshman and part of sophomore years, she believes La Salle has done a good job with switching to digital learning. 

She still thinks fondly of her sophomore year digital learning. “I still felt connected [with the community],” she said. 

When choosing a high school, Stephens specifically chose La Salle because of the community she experienced when she shadowed as an eighth grader. 

“It’s not a super big school [and because of this] I feel like I’ve gotten to know a lot of people,” she said.

Besides getting to know most of her classmates, Stephens has more personal connections with many Lasallian teachers, one of her favorites being math department co-chair and teacher, Mr. Larry Swanson. 

“I love Mr. Swanson… he helped me so much [with] math last year,” she said. “He’s just such a nice person… [and] his class was so fun.”

One of the hardest parts of the pandemic has been not seeing her friends and not being on the volleyball court. 

Stephens first became interested in volleyball when she was in the third grade, where she played CYO through her elementary and middle school, St. Agatha, until eighth grade. 

When Stephens was in fourth grade, she also decided to start club volleyball with Athena, which she still plays today.

During her freshman and sophomore years, Stephens was on La Salle’s JV volleyball team. Being on the team helped her to make a lot of friends early on. 

Although fall sports have been postponed until the spring, Stephens emphasized the importance of getting involved in either a sport or club as a freshman or new student. “I think fall sports are such a big thing [at La Salle],” she said. “I made so many friends freshman year [going to] open gyms and [other events].”

Despite the fact that Stephens’ season has been postponed, the La Salle volleyball teams have begun to prepare with open gyms a few days a week, allowing Stephens and the rest of her teammates to get back into the swing of things. 

This year, Stephens continues to push herself academically by taking multiple AP and honors courses. Her favorite class this year is her AP Biology class with Ms. Amanda Schieber. “I really like all science classes,” she said. “[They’re] just interesting.”

To stay organized through her rigorous schedule, Stephens heavily relies on checking Schoology often and typically makes daily to-do lists to ensure she has every assignment completed. 

Last December, when Stephens turned 16 and got her license, she quickly realized how lucky she was. “During March and April [driving] was my only [way to have] alone time,” she said. “Both my parents were working from home [and] that was my only alone time… I feel like I just have a lot of freedom.”

For college, Stephens wants to stay more local, planning on applying to schools in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Colorado. 

As an athlete and science-lover, Stephens hopes to pursue a career in physical therapy and get a degree in kinesiology. 

Looking towards the rest of the year, Stephens hopes to continue to push herself and stay on top of her work. “I want to get at least a 3.8 GPA,” she said. “I want stay on top of [my work], I don’t really care if I don’t get A’s in every class, but I want to make sure I understand the material, and [that] I am asking for help when I need it because I feel like I don’t always ask teachers for help.”