Written by: Hannah Nasluchacz, Staff Writer
JOHNSON: Poly senior Lillian Johnson is excited to experience her last year of high school and work toward graduating from college.
During her freshman year, she felt “excited to be going to high school,” and ready to be a part of Poly. Even though she was excited, she was also nervous, because she is the oldest and the first one in her family going into Poly. As her high school career went on, she got to watch her family members enter Poly and she felt like she “need[ed] to watch out for them and help them in any way they need[ed].” When she was a junior, she was most looking forward to senior sunrise and grad night, but most importantly, looking at which colleges she would like to attend.
In leaving high school and entering the world, Lillian does have regrets about how she spent her time in high school. Instead of keeping up with extracurriculars, like theater, choir and color guard, she chose not to have a full schedule. Her last year in high school was spent being the stage manager of Poly Dance Collective. By being the stage manager, she was at the highest authority during their performances, which she explains will help her in the future. Each member of Dance Collective listened, and respected her direction. She usually talked to the audience before every performance too which Gave her a platform to practice public speaking and leadership.
As her last month of high school is playing out, she retells events she got to participate in, events like prom. Her favorite prom memory was attending with her friends and family, and “dancing most of the night with everyone.” When she is gone, she wants to be remembered as being helpful to all people and someone that people can get along with.
After graduation, Lillian plans on majoring in Criminal Justice at Cal State San Bernardino, and she wants to use that degree to help pursue her passion for Homicide Detective work in California. If Lillian was to ever return to Poly High School as an alumni, she hopes that Poly would be even better than it is now. She wants to see more students participate in school events, the building of a real football field, and students expanding clubs. She hopes that seeing the campus filled with classrooms, gyms, and people will spark all the joyful memories that she has collected over the four years at poly.