Where are they going?: Rebekah Dowlin
Rebekah Dowlin shares her post-graduation plans
For the senior class of Mead High School (and hopefully other schools as well), the last year of high school is almost over, and they’re starting to move into their next phase of life. Rebekah Dowlin is one senior who could not be more excited to graduate and continue into post-graduation adventures.
She plans to attend Creighton University and start a pre-law track where she’ll minor in philosophy and double major in journalism and political science. She shared, “I ultimately want to go into politics, so I want to start out in law… Journalism and political science kind of relate because you can carry them into law, and you can also carry them into politics, and it’s sort of exciting…” It’s easy to tell that Rebekah is passionate about politics, but if that career path doesn’t work out, she shared that her back-up plan is to work for the media.
Although she originally wanted to live in a big city after high school, Dowlin said she’s excited to get a change of scenery when she moves to Omaha, Nebraska in the middle of the summer. Along with the excitement of getting out on her own, she’s “looking forward to a lot of the clubs, a lot of the political organizations [she] will be joining, and swimming.”
Throughout high school, swimming has been Dowlin’s “one constant.” She shared, “I swam competitive, and I also swam for Silver Creek High School. As a team, we have won four conferences all four years and went almost undefeated. So that was pretty epic.”
Meet Chiara Puccia from Italy
Get to know Italian exchange student Chiara Puccia, who has enjoyed her time in the U.S.
Welcome to “Walk in their shoes”, a column where we showcase our foreign exchange students and their homes throughout the year.
Chiara Puccia (‘24) was born in Sardinia, Italy – which she affectionately referred to as “the island in the middle of nowhere” – and “was kind of raised everywhere” in Italy. She grew up in Sicily but also spent time in Tuscany and Elba with her grandparents.
For Puccia, traveling “has always been a part of [her] life”. She’s visited many countries, explaining that traveling in Europe from country to country is like traveling from state to state in the U.S.
When it came to being a foreign exchange student, movies like High School Musical inspired Puccia; just like that, she proposed the idea to her family.
She was unsure at first, but her family encouraged her to take the leap.
“I wanted to try something new, something for my growth,” she said. And the experience has done just that. Puccia “has grown so much as a person” during her time here.
When picking where she wanted to stay, Puccia knew she wanted somewhere with weather she wasn’t used to living on an island coast. She’s enjoyed seeing the mountains and shared she’s definitely built up a tolerance to the cold.
In Italy, Puccia is finishing four of five years of linguistics school, the subject she chose to study. She’s fluent in Italian and English, can understand Spanish, and is studying Russian and Chinese.
Part of the English proficiency certification she’s working to get is grammar. “Here I discovered you guys don’t really use grammar [all the time],” she said and laughed over this unexpected finding.
“Speaking another language everyday – it’s a lot,” Puccia shared. “I remember the first couple of weeks… [it] was so hard to speak English and not have a headache.”
Along with the challenging language, being away from her family has been difficult. “Sometimes you just want a hug from your… parents,” she said. But, she continued, this shouldn’t stop anyone. Puccia advised that as a foreign exchange student it’s important focus on the culture you’re immersed in; don’t think about life back at home as much.
The American school system gives students an opportunity to explore and decide what they want to do, which Puccia believes “prepares you more for life” than subject schools in Italy do.
“I’ve seen a lot of classes that in Italy we can’t even dream of,” she said. Classes like ceramics and team sports like dance and cheer aren’t a reality at her school in Italy.
One of the first things she did when paired with her host family was ask if a dance or cheer team was at the high school. The day after she flew into Colorado, she tried out and made the MHS dance team. She shared that while being on the team, “the feeling of a football or basketball game is [exciting].” Joining the dance team was “one of the best decisions [she’s] made here.”
Another big part of her time at Mead has been theater. It’s helped her balance her academics and has “become a family” with the other theater students.
“You create a lot of relationships [through theater],” Puccia said.
Once back home, Puccia plans to finish school and apply to work as an airport crew member. She has many ideas for her future, but is currently leaning towards working in writing and communications as a journalist.
Arizona Lee is a senior, and this is her second year as Editor-in-Chief of The Mav. She enjoys reading, listening to good music, and spending time with friends. She hopes to guide the student newspaper and broadcast this year to continued success.