Our entire world revolves around the outside-in. Before you even say a word, people have already decided what kind of person they think you are. It’s human nature. But because of this, we end up missing out on the things that are the most important. Which is what I intend on looking over with you today, in regard to Hannah Speed (She/her), a senior at our proud Mountainside High School, and a staff member in the human interest department.
Speed has many interests, but one that seems the most prevalent in her life was music. The artist she’s most enamored with being Taylor Swift. She spoke about how she and her sister would listen to her together, and that was part of the reason why she held the singer so close to her heart. From how she talks about her sister and friends, it can be gathered that her connection with people is a strong factor in Hannah’s daily life. This can be proven by how she spends her time outside of school, which she said is predominantly at her job. Speed looks after children after school, and although it’s stressful, she says she really enjoys connecting with the children and helping to teach them in any way possible. Besides working, something she spends a lot of time on is stressing about her future. Colleges, what major she’s going to choose, graduation requirements, etc. It can all get bundled up into this big ball of pressure that can tend to put a strain on her daily life. When asked, she says the only thing that she does know as of right now, is that she most likely wants to be an educator. Her passion for writing and connecting with kids is a bonafide sign that a venture into a teaching career would, by and large, be her best option. It’s people like her, who actually want to be educators, that should be teaching kids today.
When asked about what large event occurred that may have changed her life, she replied with an answer I think a lot of people can relate to: COVID-19. Speed spoke about how if the pandemic had never happened, she thinks she would be a completely different person. She would have different friends, habits, personality traits. All in all, she is mostly grateful that although the virus offered many challenges, it offered her a chance to become a better person for it. Speaking of her friends, she has quite a few. But she says she is only close to two, one of them being from her childhood. They are very close. When Hannah’s with her friends, they like to eat food and listen to music. Recently, she even went to a Phoebe Bridgers concert, which she says definitely brought her to tears.
Hannah Speed has passions and problems just like the rest of us, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll end up writing!
