Vanessa Mott is a senior who I have known well for the past five years, and, while some may see her as “average”, I can most certainly say that this isn’t the case.
To start, she describes herself as a “self-conscious, dependent, scared, funny, and a little stupid” student. While I disagree with some aspects of this (especially the last), I think these statements can reflect most student experiences overall. While learning, we all feel like we mess up, or that we rely too much on others. At the end of the day, these are all things that I believe to be imperative to learning as a whole, to teach ourselves not to be too hard on ourselves.
Vanessa’s inspirations are her past experiences, her parents, and especially her partner. These things have allowed her to build off her mistakes and victories, imagine what it would be like if she was placed in a parental role, and learn how to grow and better herself not just as a partner, but also as a person in her day-to-day life.
Her hobbies are reading and learning – particularly about insects. These interests are something unique when it comes to other students, and she knows things that some students at Osage High School have no idea about. But most importantly, these offerare a clear examples of how unique she is.
Vanessa’s biggest regret is how she treated her brother. He relied on her, and she wasn’t exactly the best sister. She’s since repaired that relationship and used that time as a learning experience for life as a whole when it comes to situations similar to that.
When it comes to something that she wants to be known for, she doesn’t know. And that is completely okay. Most people have no idea what they want to be known for. It allows her not to be locked into only a handful of experiences in life.
When asked about something that she wanted the world to know, Vanessa responded with something heartfelt. “You can’t change the past. There’s nothing you can do about it, so there’s no point dwelling on it. You’ll only hurt yourself in the end.” When asked to elaborate, she said that she has both seen and experienced people who are stuck in their mindsets and dwell on past mistakes. While it may not be many people who do this, it’s important to have a sort of reality check.