Freshman Kyra Thomas’s favorite animal is the green sea turtle. In fact, she has accumulated roughly thirty stuffed green sea turtles. 

“It has been my favorite animal since first grade,” Kyra said. “They’ve survived for so long and are very majestic in my opinion.”

But Kyra’s obsession with green sea turtles is only a small part about her. 

Kyra started dancing at a young age; she did jazz, hip hop, and ballet for ten years. For the seven latter years, she danced competitively. Apart from jazz, hip hop, and ballet, she has also been tap dancing for eleven years and still does to this day. 

“I made most of my friends through sports,” Kyra said. “I’ve danced with my best friend for as long as I can remember. I used to dance every night and, in a way, the dance studio was like a second home to me because I was there all the time. Everyone was, and still is, really important to me.” 

After a long ten years, Kyra made the hard, grown-up decision to stop dancing competitively. She wanted to “explore more options;” one of those options was cheer. 

She picked up sideline cheerleading in fourth grade, and ever since, she’s found more often than not found with flaunting pom-poms. 

All of that hard work paid off this fall when Kyra made the varsity sideline cheer team as a freshman. She brought a sense of motivation and confidence to the team and met a lot of new people because of it. Because of this positive first experience with varsity cheer, Kyra is looking forward to the next couple of years of cheering for FHC. 

She had practice for two hours every day, cheered at games every Friday night, and, on top of that, she rehearsed for marching band in between—leaving her without much time to do anything else. 

She enjoyed her time spent with both groups and is thankful to have been able to do both. She was able to create connections with new people and strengthen some with old friends. 

“[Being a part of the marching band and cheer team] was really great,” Kyra said. “I met a lot of really great people in both cheerleading and band. Both [groups] were really understanding. [The cheer team] was really understanding when I had to leave to go with the band [and vice versa].”

Taking on both cheer and band was a big commitment, but with Kyra’s support and ambition, she was able to complete both. 

“I was nervous,” Kyra said. “[Being a cheerleader in the band] was a little weird, [especially] not wearing the uniform with everyone else.”

It’s quite clear that sports played, and continue to play, a vital role in who she is today. 

Currently, Kyra is not taking part in a sport at FHC. Her cheer season recently ended, and tap dance is on hold for the time being. 

But, another option Kyra wanted to explore is tennis. She’s grown up playing for fun with her friends; she only began playing competitively in middle school. Sports, for Kyra, have evolved into “a way to escape school and other things.” As she prepares for the upcoming tennis season in the spring, she has time to pursue working towards her goals for high school and even after. 

To nobody’s surprise, Kyra values her academics and does all that she can to keep up with them. She is motivated to do well in order to achieve all that she wants to. 

Of all her many goals for high school, the two goals that stick out most are the high set ones for joining the National Honors Society and having a 4.0 GPA or higher.

You wouldn’t expect a freshman to know exactly what she wants to do after high school, but Kyra knows precisely what she wants to do and how she plans on getting there. 

“After high school, I want to go to Penn State or Michigan State, and I want to be a Federal Law Enforcement Agent for the NCIS,” Kyra said. “[I want to go to Michigan State because] all of my family are Michigan State fans. [I want to go to Penn State because] I did research on some of the best schools for the kinds of things I want to study, and [Penn State] is one of them.”

She plans on working toward this goal by taking a newer course offered at FHC: forensic science. 

Kyra, having accomplished all of this at the young age of fourteen, is still working towards some goals, showing her character and drive. Her life is crazy busy, but, in the midst of it all, she finds balance. 

“[My advice to other high schoolers is this:] try your hardest, but go easy on yourself because you can’t be perfect,” Kyra said. “Remember to have fun even on the hardest days.”