Senior Sarah Hubble is quickly approaching the one thing every high schooler dreams of: graduation. While some students anxiously anticipate their unforeseeable future, Sarah knows exactly what she wants to pursue thanks to her mom’s business, high school experiences, and knowledge about herself.

Sarah has always known that she wants to venture down the business path because of her passion for talking to people and her desire to sell products and make a profit. Sarah has taken all the business classes offered, has an independent study with Kristin O’Brien, and participates in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America).

“I started in DECA my sophomore year [because] they don’t really let you do it when you’re a freshman,” Sarah said. “I think it’s really cool when you get to put together your own business plan and present to a judge and see how well you do.”

Sarah has also been working closely with O’Brien since sophomore year. Right now, Sarah is focusing on her DECA project in Oa��Brien’s independent study, and she has discovered that working with O’Brien helps her maintain a foreseeable future in business.

“I love Mrs. Oa��Brien; she’s one of my favorite teachers,” Sarah said. “I’ve literally taken all of her classes, and I just love her to death. I’ve always kind of known that I’ve wanted to major in business, but [Mrs. Oa��Brien] kind of helped me further understand what I need to be successful.”

Because of her passion, talent, and drive, Sarah performs well at DECA competitions. DECA is split into district, state, and national levels; you must get enough points to advance to the next level. Although she hasn’t made it to nationals, Sarah is proud that she has qualified for states three consecutive times and has had enjoyable weekends with her favorite teacher.

“I’ve never been nationals,” Sarah said. “It’s all point based – States is fun. For me, I present on the first day, so we just go to the different events they have and take the tests. Mrs. Oa��Brien is awesome, and it’s just a fun weekend.”

Sarah will be pursuing her education at Western Michigan University to major in business and sales. Along with that, she hopes to continue her passion for cheerleading. Sarah has been involved in cheerleading since third grade, her love for the sport only growing since then. In sideline cheer, she loves having a front row seat to each football game and leading the cheers with the student section.

“[Sideline cheer] is really cool because you get to be in front of your whole student section,” Sarah said. “I don’t know what it would be like to be in the student section, but I just love cheering. It’s really cool to start chants because everyone makes fun of cheerleaders, but they wouldn’t cheer without us.”

Competitive cheer has proven to be less laid-back than sideline and more of a high-energy and intense sport. In years past, the competitive cheer team was a combination of the three schools in the Forest Hills district, but this year, FHC was its own individual team. Before the change, Sarah found that the combined team to be an unfavorable environment; but, with the change came a new team atmosphere.

“Some of the girls are used to winning, and we don’t win that often,” Sarah said. “We don’t really lose; we normally come in second or third. [Not winning] is really frustrating because you want to win.”

Because the team doesn’t always take first, Sarah finds herself and the team working hard at practices to improve. Sarah enjoys the energy and drive at practices because tryouts for college cheerleading are approaching. As a flyer, she has gained an incredible sense of dependency, something that Sarah will keep in her back pocket for college.

“I will miss the lessons I’ve learned throughout cheer, I think it’s made me a stronger person,” Sarah said. “When you’re trying to learn new skills, it’s pretty challenging when you don’t know how to do something, and you rely on three other girls to lift you up in the air. Sometimes you don’t even know if they’re going to catch you; you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s one of those things where you have to rely on people and trust that they’re going to do their job, and you do your job to the best of your ability.”

Not only will that lesson carry over to her future in cheerleading but in her life as well. Sarah leans on her supportive family much like her bases in cheer. Her brother, Shane, is her other half. Even though Western is a short drive away, Sarah will miss coming home to see her brother.

“I am going to miss my family so much, especially Shane,” Sarah said. “We just have each other. We don’t actually fight very often, just little bickering here or there, but normally, we hang out every night.”

Sarah and Shane both share passions and talents for music. Sarah has been in choir since freshman year and is now in jazz choir and chorale, while Shane has a knack for the guitar. The two often play together at home, and they even showcased their talents at this year’s talent show.

One of Sarah’s biggest regrets is not being involved in the theatre program. Because of the amount of time all of her activities take up, Sarah never found the chance to be involved in any theater productions. She has been exposed to music all of her life, learning the alphabet and the fifty states through song when she was younger, and now playing the ukulele and piano. With such a strong enthusiasm for music, Sarah wishes she could have shown her love for it through the annual musicals.

“I love to sing,” Sarah said. “I have been singing my whole life. I’m not in theater or anything because I just don’t have time. I definitely wish I was in theatre; that would be so fun. My sophomore year, I got a concussion, so I couldn’t do my competitive season. I really wish I would have done the musical because that would have been a lot of fun.”

As a busy high schooler, Sarah also finds it hard to make time for church, which is difficult because religion is so important to her. In her freshman year, Sarah’s senior sister introduced her to Young Life, an organization for anybody to strengthen their faith or religion. Sarah made lasting friendships through a common interest and enjoys strengthening those relationships at school and on trips through the Young Life program.

“When you’re in high school it’s really hard to find time to go to church, as bad as that sounds,” Sarah said. “You obviously still want God to be a part of your life, so Young Life makes it accessible and fun. It’s just a safe group, and you have friends that love Jesus that go to your school.”

Throughout her busy high school career, Sarah has strengthened relationships, learned valuable lessons through cheer, and most importantly, settled on a career path. Even though she will miss her family and teachers, Sarah is excited to take the first step of her future once she graduates.

“I am very excited for the future,” Sarah said. “I’m really excited to graduate because I just feel like I’ve been here far too long. I can’t wait to just move out, be independent, and see what my path is. I’m excited to see where the future takes me.”