By Harry Lymberopoulos
Jenks High School
Just like a character in one of her favorite Shannon Messenger fiction books, Kaelyn Smith has a plan for the narrative arc of her life.
“I love to read books. I love writing. I actually write on some of my own blogs for fun since I’ve always loved writing stories,” said Kaelyn Smith, a rising senior at Epic Charter Schools in Oklahoma City, of her passion for reading and writing.
Kaelyn’s enormous heart for reading and writing has ended up shaping the path she wants to take for college and ultimately her career.
“I actually plan on majoring in English because I would like to be an author and do creative writing – what I like to do even more,” she said. Kaelyn plans to major in English to become an author and has been taking classes and activities at her high school to further her growth.
While the end goal is clear, path has – like a good novel – some detours. Recently, she decided to leave Epic to attend Norman North High School for her senior year. Before Epic, she attended Community Christian School, a private school in Norman.
“One of the reasons I’m leaving is because it just has not been a good fit for me personally,” Kaelyn said. “One of the reasons I did it was because of COVID but I’m just hoping to I mean, I’m also into choir and I do music and singing. I’ve been singing for like my whole life. So, Norman North has really good choir programs and music programs there so that’s one of the reasons I’ll be transferring there.”
In word and voice, Kaelyn is making the best decisions for her future.
For college, Kaelyn was planning on going to the University of Oklahoma, which the Norman resident lives 20 minutes from. She wanted to go to OU because she has been around it her whole life. But recently that, too, changed.
“I was actually originally planning to go to OU but it’s looking like I actually am going to MACU (Mid-America Christian University). I want to go here over OU because the English program is better,” she said.
Once again, it’s the story of a person driven to achieve, making the best decisions for her future and what she wants be when she gets older. In the end, she hopes to turn fantasies of her future life into non-fiction, and maybe best-sellers, too.
