Junior Lilly Crook always pictured moving as the “end-all” of situations to confront her, one that would never cross her path.

That is, until it happened to her.

“I had always imagined that moving would be the worst thing,” Lilly said. “But then it happens to you, and you just have to deal with it. It wasn’t that bad though, looking back.”

Moving from Kentucky at the beginning of her sophomore year, leaving the only home she had known since she was two, was no easy feat. But because of Lilly’s dad’s new job, the Crooks packed up and traded Kentucky’s warmth and Southern drawl for Michigan’s snow and Midwestern accent.

“I knew for a while before my sister, and I was a little upset, but I hadn’t fully accepted it until I told her,” Lilly said. “Then, I started crying. It just kind of hit me that we were actually moving and packing it up.”

In the last two years that she’s been here, however, Lilly has seamlessly assimilated into FHC’s community. Coming from a less-endowed school, she found the many teams, clubs, and opportunities presented to her as an unchallenging way to integrate.

One of these aspects is track— a sport that she’s participated in since middle school. As a pole vaulter, Lilly joined the close community of athletes who learn as they go in the unique and difficult sporting event.

“I love how close all of the pole vaulters are,” Lilly said. “Whenever someone makes it over a certain height, we all cheer for them because it’s a big deal to make it over the bar. It’s like you have different groups— the vaulters, the jumpers, the throwers, runners, hurdlers. It’s kind of nice because you find where you fit in, but you always [are] a part of different groups.”

The other sport that Lilly participates in, cross country, provides her with an opportunity to improve her running— an aspect of her life that Lilly highly values. Joining cross country as soon as she arrived at FHC, the positivity of the team and camaraderie of the sport drew her in and kept her both happy and healthy.

“Cross country helped me get in shape for a half marathon I ran in March last year,” Lilly said. “My dad and I went to Arizona, and it was really fun. I was pretty in shape because of cross country. We just trained for a few months, but it went really well.”

Because of events like this, Lilly finds herself extremely close to her family. She, her parents, and her sister shared close quarters during the transitory periods of their move, rendering them closer than ever by the end of it.

As a result, she finds that in whatever she does, Lilly has her parents behind her in support, whether that be in her social, athletic, or academic endeavors.

“My parents have always been really supportive,” Lilly said. “They prepared us when we moved by telling us what we should expect and what we should do. And I think my sister and I have grown closer because we’re experiencing and trying new things and meeting new people. We are starting to get really close because of growing up and knowing that I’ll be gone in a year.”

And as Lilly does prepare to look into her future, she’s drawn to the medical field and the vast sector of nursing, in specific.

Her passion for this trade was aided by joining Health Occupations Student Association (HOSA) this year. This organization has helped Lilly expand her perception of the medical field, from hearing from her diverse peers and a variety of guest speakers.

In whatever it is that she ends up doing, however, Lilly knows that she has several crutches to fall back on. In addition to her Kentucky upbringing and her Michigan transformation, the constant to all of her life’s changes has been and always will be her supportive family and friends who always have her back.

“I think nursing gives you a lot of opportunities to explore different things because you can branch off,” Lilly said. “I’ve always liked helping people, and I want a job where I know that I’m impacting people and doing something extremely important that helps people.”