“The best thing about senior year is that you get to start planning for your future,” said Ethan Christiansen, senior, “It’s exciting to realize that the next chapter of your life is about to start.”

Christiansen is making the most out of his senior year by being involved with the performing arts; Chorale and Southside choirs, theatre, and Vice President of the Choir Leadership Team. Along with working at Hyvee Market Grill, he also helps his family whenever they need it and prepares for college.

The best part about being in two different choirs for Christiansen is that he gets to sing for two different class periods. “I love singing,” Christiansen said, however, “The worst thing is that there is quite a bit of music and it can be a lot sometimes.”

He loves theatre because “everyone is welcome and is a family,” Christiansen said. He loves participating in musicals because of “how over the course of the rehearsal process, the cast and crew can grow so close. It is so cool, too, to see people grow as people and as performers,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen stays organized by taking it “day by day. At the beginning of the week I plan out big events, and then I just get through the week.” These activities helps, Christiansen said, “[him] experience the kind of responsibility I’ll be facing once [he] graduate[s]. Helping other people with their problems, scheduling, etc. is stuff that will flood in after high school. “

When he was younger, he wanted to be a professional baseball player or an actor. Now, Christiansen plans on attending the University of Kansas to study education, because he’s “always felt compelled to teach and help kids.”

The University of Kansas is his dream school. He also might study theatre, because he loves performing. “While it’s a big campus, it’s a good change from where I am now,” Christiansen said.

If he could go back in time to before his freshman year and give himself advice about starting high school, he would tell himself “don’t be afraid of who you are. Don’t try to be who other people want you to be. Be open, caring, compassionate, and don’t care about what other people think.”