From the beginning of senior Joey Sitarski’s life, the importance of having a close-knit relationship with his family has always been a constant.
From being the youngest in the family to having a large age gap between his siblings to now discovering where his interests in sports came from, Joey couldn’t be more content with the activities he’s chosen to engage in high school.
“I was one of those kids growing up where I couldn’t really find that sport that stuck with me,” Joey said. “My mom would have me try football and baseball, and that kind of went through all [of] middle school. Going into high school. I wanted to find some sort of community where I could participate every day after school, and my older brother did crew, and he loved it.”
Following this passion, Joey never expected that in following in his brother’s footsteps, he would be creating an experience entirely different.
Whether his siblings challenged their smarts in clubs or their strength in sports, they were always participating in a plethora of activities to keep them busy.
However, the ones that intrigued Joey the most were the National Honors Society (NHS) and the FHC Crew Team, in part because of the person that he looked up to the most: his brother.
“I love all my other siblings, they’re all kind of role models for me in different ways,” Joey said. “I sense that I’ve done a lot in my high school experience, for example, I’m very involved in the crew team, I’m the captain [and ] I’ve been all four years. My older brother Jake was also a captain on the crew team, which was a very inclusive way to try the extracurricular.”
Nevertheless, looking back on these past couple of years has made Joey realize, one lesson that stands out from the rest; he is grateful that he chose to stick with crew these past four years.
I like the idea of kind of being a sort of coordinator, and it helps with college application season [because] It just gave me another reason to try.”
— Joey Sitarski
“Joining crew was like a really big thing,” Joey said. “I was really scared of it, and you know, COVID didn’t help that I just spent like six months basically by myself. But my older brother was home at the time because of quarantine. I was borderline like not going to try it, but he was really pushing me through he’s like, ‘You can do it, it’s going to be good for you, and like you’ll love it, if you don’t, it’s not a big a deal.’ He helped me learn how to work out and how that even works, and so I really appreciate it, and it was really gratifying because he was home for my first season of crew He got to see me every day through practice, seeing how my emotions would change seeing how I got more adapted to the sport.”
But even within the process, of clubs and extracurriculars, his siblings may have influenced him, but this is not the only reason he chooses to participate in the activities that he does.
Growing up, Joey was always that kid who struggled to find his academic niche, but as he’s now nearing the end of his high school career, he has started to find his place in high school.
“A lot of what I do, [with] classes and extracurriculars, is just kind of basing off [what] my other siblings did, and so they kind of have something where it’s like, this is kind of your own thing,” Joey said. “This is you taking initiative on your life that isn’t necessarily based on anyone else [and] that feels gratifying. But I still do appreciate having my older siblings to build my life off of them.”
But despite the fact that crew is a sport and NHS is an extracurricular, this factor didn’t stop Joey from participating in both. His siblings may have led the path, but Joey created a path for himself, yet this is what makes his experience with NHS, specifically, exemplary of the rest.
“The idea of NHS in itself was definitely present,” Joey said. “I knew what it was [but] I wouldn’t say I knew the mechanics, who the [people] were in it was, or what you kind of did. So sophomore year, when I got to know the upper class better, they told me more about what it was, and that’s how I kind of found out the role of executive board, and that kind of piqued my interest.”
Alongside this fact, now that Joey has had the honor of becoming an Executive Board member, he is exposed to NHS from multiple standpoints.
Joey earns the title of leadership by working alongside his peers, while also helping the newest members of NHS; students who are now in the same position he was a year ago.
“I think the story of high school for me has just been kind of experimenting with different things to see what brings me fulfillment,” Joey said. “I’ve tried to do that with sports and with school, and I found things that fit and things that [didn’t] fit. [But] I think that NHS was a good opportunity for me to try and put myself in a leadership position and see how I fit in and how it kind of fits into my life, and it’s been going pretty good so far. I like the idea of kind of being a sort of coordinator, and it helps with college application season [because] It just gave me another reason to try.”
