After graduation, senior Laura Brotherton wants to attend either Oregon State University or Washington State University, where she plans to get her degree in elementary education, following her ambition to become a teacher. Because the teaching programs of both schools are similar, she doesn’t have a preference.
Brotherton initially chose to go to La Salle for its strong community and theater program. Though she never ended up participating in theater due to scheduling issues, her love for performance and singing continues as a section leader in the choir, which is among her favorite classes.
Often, she helps pick out the set list, with her favorite types of music being choral music, big band swing music, and broadway music. She enjoys listening to singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Vera Lynn.
Another favorite class of Brotherton’s is Honors French 4. “It’s just a really fun group of kids,” she said. “We’ve been basically in the same class since freshman year.”
But her all time favorite course at La Salle is Advanced Innovation & Design, taught by Director of STEAM Ms. Carie Coleman — her favorite teacher. Brotherton said she values “how welcoming and fun she is.”
Additionally, she’s a member of the Maker’s Club, based in the Innovation and Design Center, and appreciates how Ms. Coleman lets her spend so much time in her classroom.
Family means a lot to Brotherton.
Every year, her family does two Christmases — one with her dad’s family and one with her mom’s, where they serve a Christmas breakfast composed of breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls for her and her two younger siblings. She and her uncle also make a cookie platter for their family and friends, “and that’s like a two-week process,” she said.
Growing up, Brotherton’s family often performed war reenactments, which got her interested in history at an early age. “I was two months old the first time I did it,” she said.
She got even more deeply interested in history, specifically in costuming, during sixth grade.
Over the summer, Brotherton and her family visited the Colonial Williamsburg Museum in Virginia, “which is one of the time points in history I really like,” Brotherton said.
If she could have any super power, it would be time manipulation, she said, so that she could “know the stuff they didn’t write down.”
If Brotherton could travel anywhere in the world it would either be France or England for their history.
“I’m a really major history nerd,” she said.
The genre of movies she enjoys most is fantasy-adjacent — “not necessarily fantasy, but not real-world either,” Brotherton said, with her favorite movie being the animated version of “Alice in Wonderland” and her favorite show being “Good Omens.”
Outside of school, she enjoys doing fiber arts: she quilts, crochets, spins her own yarn, and sews. Brotherton believes that sewing machines should not be as technologically complicated as they are, because it makes them harder and more expensive to fix.
“I believe you should be able to fix things yourself,” she said.
