Sophomore Lucas Hungerford’s passion for basketball started at seven years old, when he started playing for his town’s recreational basketball team.

Although Hungerford went into his first game feeling nervous, not knowing much about the sport, he left the game feeling “happy and proud,” he said. This feeling of accomplishment was due to the 22 points that he had successfully scored in that single game. 

Hungerford’s first successful game would dictate his love for basketball for the next eight years.  

“I like basketball because it makes you work really hard and push yourself,” he said.

Hungerford described his love for more difficult classes in the same manner. 

Hungerford has a busy class schedule with several honors and AP classes, ranging from AP Calculus AB to Honors English 2. However, he is grateful for his Advanced Guitar class that offers a “break in the middle of the day,” allowing him “to relax and play the guitar,” he said. 

Hungerford is able to balance a stressful school schedule and basketball by making time for relaxation and “[taking] a load off,” he said. He uses his love for guitar and golf as a way to ensure said balance. 

After attending public school his whole life, Hungerford’s family chose La Salle because they wanted a “good option for distance learning,” he said. Ultimately, the transition was made due to his family’s value for “a little bit smaller school with more connection, [and] more community.” 

After two years at La Salle, Hungerford feels as if he has found that sense of community. 

“It’s been really positive,” Hungerford said when discussing the transition from public school to private school. He likes how “everyone is involved in the school in some way.” 

Hungerford has gotten involved by playing on La Salle’s golf team. “I like how relaxing it is,” he said. “Like our practices, you just go out and play with your friends and talk to them and have a good time.”

Every summer, his family takes a trip to Sunriver where he likes to expand on his love for golf. 

His family also loves to go out to eat and play games together, specifically the board game Clue. He said these games have not only helped strengthen his relationship with his family but have also helped strengthen his mental sharpness.

Hungerford said the strengths and strategies he has learned during family game night have helped develop him into a strong basketball player and student. 

In the future, he hopes to leave high school with “a lot of memories that [he is] happy with and that [he] will remember for a long time,” he said.

Hungerford looks forward to high school graduation and attending a four-year university, with the intention of earning a graduate degree after that.

Hungerford wants to “help make [La Salle] better than when I came,” he said.