“I think I’d like to be remembered for not what I did, but my personality and the friends I had, because there’s a lot of things that can happen in high school that’s not fun.” Szydlowski said. “I think [I’ve] been seen in the halls upset a bunch of times, but I don’t want to be remembered for that. I want to be remembered for the times that we actually had together.”
With a passion for party planning and a head start on college, senior Alexis Szydlowski is now is trading high school stress for a future in hospitality. After being dead set on going out of state after high school, “these are moments I think about for a long time.”
Q: How is your senior year going so far?
A: “It’s pretty good. It’s definitely a lot more work than I anticipated with eight classes [between] MACC and [RBHS]. It’s kind of a lot, but I’m handling the stress.”
Q: Do you have any plans for next year?
A: “I’m going to Mizzou for hospitality and event planning. I’ve already got my general classes out of the way, so I’ll just be there for two to three years.”
Q: What made you choose that?
A: “I’ve kind of always just loved doing event planning, planning parties [and] making lists. So it’s just kind of the right thing for me.”
Q: Do you have any plans for after college?
A: “After college, I want to get a job planning events. Hopefully [as] a wedding planner. [That would be] the goal.”
Q: How do you think your years at RBHS have gone and is there anything you would have changed?
A: “I think that I would have tried to have been more outgoing. I was just really afraid of what people thought of me, so I didn’t really do much. But besides that, Rock Bridge has been pretty good. I feel like there’s a lot of freedom.”
Q: What was your biggest challenge in high school and how’d you overcome it?
A: “I think the biggest challenge was definitely meeting new people and going from a school that’s very small, like Jefferson Middle School, [where] everyone knows everyone and everyone is nice to everyone, and then going to this big school where no one really knows you. There’s some mean people, and I feel like overcoming that was just being okay with [the idea that] everyone’s not gonna like you, and you just have to work through that and find the people that do.”
Q: Has there been any staff member or teacher who’s had an impact on you?
A: “Definitely Mr. [Shannon] Blakey. He is my pottery teacher. I’ve had him for three years in a row. He’s just kind, understanding and is a really, really good teacher to make connections with and [for] art.”
Q: When you graduate, what is one thing you would like to be remembered for?
A: “I think I’d like to be remembered [not for] what I did, but my personality and the friends I had, because there’s a lot of things that can happen in high school that’s not fun. I think [I’ve] been seen in the halls upset a bunch of times, but I don’t want to be remembered for that. I want to be remembered for the times that we actually had together.”
Q: What do you wish people cared about more?
A: “What I care about that I wish other people cared about more would probably be relationships. I don’t specifically mean just romantically, but friendships, relationships with your family. I feel like sometimes things like that get taken for granted. But for me, when things get hard, or I am excited about something, I have at least 3 good friends or family I can talk to about all of it. And without that I think my life would be significantly less happy.”
Q: What would you say to any incoming freshmen?
A: “Just be yourself, which is pretty self-explanatory, but I feel like for a lot of people, [they’re] just trying to silence [themselves] and fit in, but it’s not important because you’re not going to see a lot of these people ever again. So just find the people that you do want to see again.”
