As she embarks on her first year at La Salle, freshman Tabitha Obuchowski has had to learn to adjust to the differences in high school while balancing advanced classes, sports, and different hobbies outside of school. 

Obuchowski came from a private middle school, Christ the King, which is much smaller than La Salle. There were only 16 people in her graduating class, “four guys and the rest were girls,” Obuchowski said. 

Although she came to La Salle following in her older sister’s path, she said that she thought “it’d be a lot scarier to start high school than it actually was,” Obuchowski said. “Everyone was pretty welcoming.”

Obuchowski takes all the required courses for ninth grade students, but she also takes higher-level courses including Honors Spanish IV and geometry, both of which are not typically in the coursework for freshmen.

Being ahead of most of the students in her class, Obuchowski started learning Spanish at a Spanish immersion elementary school and took Spanish classes at La Salle for seventh and eighth grade.

Regardless of being in an advanced Spanish class, Obuchowski names English and World History as her more difficult classes at La Salle. 

She stays busy after school with the JV2 volleyball team but also plans to play club volleyball and join the track team once they begin later this school year. 

Even though Obuchowski does volleyball now, she “was a gymnast for seven or eight years and then I did cheer for four,” she said.

Along with her passion for sports, Obuchowski names camping, hanging out with family, and crocheting as things she likes to do in her free time. Obuchowski has become skilled at crocheting over the years since she started in the second grade. 

At the beginning of the summer, she and her family took a two-week trip around Europe, “[We] went to Scotland, London, and Paris,” she said. Then she went on another trip in August to Oahu, Hawaii for an Aunt’s wedding. 

Despite the fact that Obuchowski was unable to name a favorite vacation spot, she did mention wanting to tour Asia and specifically wanting to go to Indonesia because “that’s where my mom’s from, we have family there,” she said. 

Obuchowski also said that her dad is Polish and that throughout the year they celebrate both parents’ cultures. She mentions celebrating the Lunar New Year and eating Polish food for Christmas.

For the upcoming weeks, Obuchowski plans to continue attending the football and soccer games and said she was excited to see what was at the club fair. 

With Obuchowski’s busy schedule she tries to “stay on top of [her] classes and maintain good grades,” she said.