Graduation season is here. As the members of Vestavia Hills High School’s Class of 2016 are preparing to turn their tassels and accept their diplomas on May 24, that also means preparing to wave goodbye to the classrooms they have known for four years. We sat down with a few members of this year’s graduating class to discuss favorite moments (beating Hoover High School in football), favorite activities (We the People) and favorite teachers. Here is what a few students had to say.
Name: Jackson Robinson
Activities: Varsity soccer, We the People
College plans: Furman University
As he looks toward selecting a college major or majors, Jackson Robinson said he sees the influence of his Vestavia Hills High School courses on his decision. He said he hopes to double major in neuroscience and history or political science, combining what he enjoys about the hard sciences and government.
“I don’t think without my AP History class in 10th or 11th grade or my AP Biology class in 11th grade that I would really have any idea of what I wanted to do,” Robinson said.
Robinson said because his parents are attorneys and his grandfather is a federal bankruptcy judge, he has always been interested in law, but his time at VHHS allowed him to pursue other interests through classes and extracurricular activities. He was able to take several AP courses during his four years at Vestavia, which he said helped prepare him for applying to colleges.
“Vestavia does a really good job of catering to what students want,” he said. “If you want to have engaging and hard courses, they’re available. I took advantage of that.”
Robinson also participated in We the People, a 20-person constitutional law and AP Government class. It was his favorite class from his time at VHHS, Robinson said, and it provided him with a way to learn in the classroom as well as at competitions. “Really, the teachers who teach the class, Ms. [Amy] Maddox and Ms. [Jane] Schaefer, are some of my favorite people alive,” Robinson said.
Outside of academics, Robinson also played on the Vestavia soccer team for five years, including playing varsity in his junior and senior years. The team helped him cultivate a group of friends, Robinson said, and benefited him when it came to developing interpersonal skills.
“I’ve always thought that team sports are really a great thing to participate in,” Robinson said. “They give you a lot of insight into working as a team and working with people.”
Robinson received a scholarship offer from Furman University, where he said he is “95 percent sure” he will attend.
Name: Ching Sullivan
Activities: SGA, Habitat for Humanity, debate team, math team, Vestavia Ambassadors, We the People, Indian dancing, Alabama Youth Symphony, youth worship leader at Shades Mountain Baptist Church
College plans: Harvard or Yale University
When she was in fourth grade, Ching Sullivan’s family was looking at where they wanted to move.
“We ended up choosing Vestavia, because I’d already formed bonds there. They had a very good record of developing students that excel,” she said. “[At VHHS] I’ve gotten to take over 10 AP classes. I have amazing teachers that have inspired me to go into the profession that I want to go into.”
Sullivan said she thanks her We the People sponsors Amy Maddox and Jane Schaefer, AP teachers Virginia Hackney and Linda Rainer, college counselor Oliver Aaron and VHHS’s new principal Tyler Burgess for positively influencing her experience at VHHS.
“The passion that teachers have at Vestavia really transferred to me,” Sullivan said. “They’ve really affected me, and that’s something I’m really thankful for.”
Sullivan is ranked second of her class and plans to attend Yale University in the fall.
“I got in early action, which was honestly the biggest blessing in my life, because I didn’t have to apply to 10, 15 other schools,” she said.
Her dedication to academics, Sullivan said, came from lessons she was taught at a young age. She grew up in China almost without parents, she said. Her mother worked eight hours away, so she saw her only once a month, and her father divorced her mother when she was an infant.
“My grandmother raised me in China, and she’s my biggest inspiration, but she’s also very disciplined,” Sullivan said. “She enforced the importance of hard work and humility, selflessness, to do what you’re supposed to do while benefiting others at the same time. So that’s why I think I’m so dedicated in school.”
Even while she has excelled academically, Sullivan has also remained involved outside of the classroom. She is a member of several school groups, principal oboist for the Alabama Youth Symphony, a youth worship leader in the Chinese ministry at Shades Mountain Baptist Church and has performed with an Indian dancing team for nine years.
“I wouldn’t want any other life, because I enjoy this life, and I enjoy always having something to look forward to doing,” she said. “I love everything that I do, so it’s never bothersome or burdensome for me to always be so involved.”
Name: Clayton Farris
Activities: Football, wrestling, secretary of National Honor Society, Latin Honor Society, Math Honor Society
College plans: Pre-med at Washington University at St. Louis
Clayton Farris said his senior football season left him with a moment he will not soon forget.
“This year when we beat Hoover in football is probably going to be one of my most shining memories,” Farris said.
Farris grew up in a blue-and-red jersey, and his dad played for coach Buddy Anderson. He has had the goal to beat Hoover High School since he was young.
“It’s a long-standing tradition, and since we normally lose, it’s a lot of fun when we win,” Farris said.
But the last four years were about more than just what took place on the football field, Farris said. In addition to several clubs, Farris took AP Biology, English literature and composition, calculus AB, government and macroeconomics. During his time at VHHS, Farris said his AP teachers and college counselor Oliver Aaron helped prepare him for the next step in his education.
“My teachers all four years, but especially the last two years, have really been invaluable resources,” he said.
Farris plans to be pre-med at Washington University at St. Louis, and he said Aaron’s counseling helped him settle on a university that fit his needs — somewhere outside of Birmingham that he is familiar with as well as a place to prepare him for medical school.
“I’ve been encouraged by my family to pursue the highest education that I can get for myself for my whole life,” Farris said. “The biggest thing I’ve worried about is separation.”
Although his feelings have not changed in regard to distance from home, Farris said preparation and planning have made the move less daunting.
“I’ve just grown more comfortable with the idea,” he said.
Name: Andrea Burris
Activities: National Merit Finalist, captain of Vestavia Rockettes, yearbook editor, Vestavia Belles, chair of the Relay for Life Survivorship Committee, chaplain for Habitat for Humanity, Youth Leadership Vestavia Member, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society
College plans: Undecided
In her final year at Vestavia Hills High School, Andrea Burris has worked to collect and preserve memories. As editor of the VHHS yearbook, Burris said her goal is to build something the whole Class of 2016 will want to look back at.
“It’s definitely lots of pressure,” she said. “You have to think, ‘What do we want people from what we make to remember 10, 20, 30 years down the road?’” she said.
Photo spreads from events where the whole school was involved are some of her favorite parts of the yearbook, she said. As someone who was heavily involved in VHHS organizations, she said those events were also some of her favorite memories.
Burris joined Relay for Life her freshman year, and she said the opening day event still sticks out. She remembers the music, hearing her friends perform and seeing the sky lanterns light up.
“It was just a blast,” she said. “It was just, out of all of my moments, that is one of the best memories of our student body as a whole becoming one.”
Joining other groups, including the Vestavia Belles and Rockettes, meant she stayed involved in community events. Burris served as captain of the Rockettes her senior year, which she said helped shape her leadership and time management skills.
Inside the classroom, Burris said teachers helped prepare her for life after high school through their guidance and dedication to helping students excel.
“As far as preparing us academically, they’ve done everything terrifically,” she said. “They’re really giving you the ability to show off your knowledge to all the schools you’re applying to.”
Although she has not decided where she will attend college, all of her options would take her out of Vestavia Hills. As she looks back on her academic career in Vestavia and as she puts together the yearbook, Burris said she is grateful for the opportunities and classmates she had.
“I would definitely like to thank them [my classmates] for a great 13 years,” she said. “It’s been so great to get to know each and every one of them. Also, they should know that at VHHS, we’re a support system. They should know that all of their classmates will be here to support them even if we’re not still in the same building.”
