As often as four times a week, you can bet on finding sophomore Vivienne Bishop spending her free time on a saddle. 

An equestrian since she was around six years old, Bishop explained how she got into the sport.

“I think it was because of this show I watched on Netflix called Horse Land,” she said. “I don’t really know any other reason as to why I started liking it.”

Her dedication towards this sport has granted her the opportunity to go to nationals, where she competed in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Along with riding horses in her free time, Bishop also participates in regular volunteer work at her mother’s elementary school, where she does whatever she can to help out.

“I like doing it because it helps [the teachers], and I know it helps the kids too,” she said. “So it kind of helps all around, time-wise and learning-wise.”

Along with volunteering at her mother’s school, Bishop is currently engaging in other volunteer work as a student ambassador at La Salle. She enjoys being an ambassador because she likes the opportunities it provides, such as meeting new people, both through the program and by introducing future Falcons to the community. 

As for the future, Bishop hopes to pursue a career in the medical field due to her interest in helping others, with the second subject of Bishop’s curiosity in health being biology.

“I would like to learn more about biology and how things work and how it all functions together,” she said. 

One opportunity at La Salle she knows will help her expand her knowledge of the human body is the Anatomy and Physiology elective, which she hopes to take as an upperclassman. 

Bishop plans on working to achieve these goals by doing her best at school through minimal procrastination and earning good grades, something she is already starting to apply. The additional support La Salle provides will help the success of her goals as well, Bishop said, explaining that “teachers really help because they understand the students.” 

Among the faculty at La Salle, Bishop has found her English teacher, Mr. Greg Larson, to be her favorite throughout her time here so far.

“He understands what the students are going through — sports-wise and time-wise — and makes it somewhat flexible for students,” she said. 

Something else Bishop appreciates about La Salle is the close-knit community, explaining that it is very inclusive and overall feels like a big family. It is a community she wants to be a big part of. 

“I really want to become an important part of this school,” she said. “I want to be someone [people can] look to if they need help, or just someone to be there.”

Someone that has helped to shape the person she is today, a person who has undoubtedly impacted her current values, is her dad. He is a strong inspiration in Bishop’s life and someone she really looks up to because of his ability to put others first, she explained. 

“He prioritizes the people in his life,” she said. 

The person she is today can also be traced back to her appreciation of switching from public school to private. 

For Bishop, this was major. 

Changing to private school when she was younger was “when I really found true friendship and what it means to be Christian,” Bishop said. 

This change has gotten her to where she is now and has brought some close friends into her life in the process. 

Without this change, Bishop said that she may not have discovered as easily the true meaning of Christmas, which she originally thought was all about presents prior to growing in her faith. Thinking back, Bishop appreciates that her parents made the decision to switch schools, as it has led her to become the person she is now: someone who strives to work for the good of others.