As a senior student-athlete, it is a little sad to know that my senior year would be my last year of playing high school or competitive soccer entirely. Playing high school soccer was a really interesting experience because it brought so many good and bad memories and also unexpecting outcomes. I think that everyone should try to live the experience of playing a high school sport. I love the late-night drive back home from other cities/schools. Overall, my high school sports experience was memorable because I’ve made most of my friends through it, and I also learned many life lessons. For example, to be a successful student-athlete, you need to have good time management and have your priorities straight. I also learned that education always comes before the sport. After all, the student comes before the athlete.

Although my competitive career is coming to an end, senior student-athletes are continuing their sport at the college level. These student-athletes are hard workers who have trained most of their lives to achieve greater accomplishments. Trying to balance schoolwork and sports is probably one of the most challenging obstacles for student-athletes. These athletes are examples of what a student-athlete is.

Zunekia “Diamond” McGill is a senior here at South who has participated in various sports throughout his high school career. He says that his experience with high school sports was “great, especially my senior year.” Diamond goes on to say that the reason why he loved his senior year is that he “felt great getting recognized for my hard work by my coaches and teammates!” Diamond also says that he has had so many memorable experiences and that it is hard to pick the most memorable one. However, he says that one of them is “playing soccer for the first time in high school.” For Diamond, it was a wonderful experience. He also mentions that “scoring a goal against North was cool, too.” As Diamond is leaving his high school arc, his advice for younger athletes is “to be humble and not judge your success to anyone but yourself. You’ll be so much more happy this way!”

Adie Wagner, an athlete that has accomplished milestones, is also a perfect representation of what it takes to be a student-athlete. In her last basketball season, she reached a great accomplishment of making over 2,000 points. Adie is great a role model to the younger athletes. Adie says that her high school experience was “very fun because I made lots of memories.” The most memorable experience she had was her season with the golf team because she made it to state. Her advice for the younger athletes as she leaves high school is to “remember why you started.”

Kolby Jones, another great individual who has done so much for Fargo South, is also an accurate representation of a student=athlete. According to Kolby, he says that his experience with sports “was fun, the atmosphere and school pride was like no other.” His most memorable moment was his first time playing a varsity football game against Dickinson on his sophomore year. For all the younger student-athletes out there, Kolby’s advice for you guys is to “go hard and give it all you every chance you get.”