Super Kid Jessica Miller’s got a running start on life
Published 10:06 pm Sunday, January 11, 2015
Jessica Miller, 18, is a senior at Everett High School and this week’s Super Kid.
Question: I hear you’re involved with Running Start at Everett Community College. When did you start that program?
Answer: I started last year as a junior and did it my whole junior year and am finishing my senior year. A couple of my friends were thinking about it and we decided to do it all together.
Q: What classes are you taking?
A: Introduction to statistics, fiction 1, American government and nutrition.
Q: What’s it like to be on a college campus?
A: I really enjoy it. I get my AA this year as I graduate from high school. I like the freedom. It’s an awesome program.
Q: What’s the AA degree in?
A: Just a general associates degree.
Q: How have you benefited from being on a college campus?
A: It’s great to learn how it’s different from high school. A lot of times, high school is a lot lower expectation. You really have to get the work done.
The teachers don’t do excuses. You go on vacation you have to do all the work. It’s more self-directed. I like it that way a lot.
Q: What schools did you attend previously?
A: Evergreen Middle School and View Ridge Elementary.
Q: Can you tell me about your volunteer work?
A: Yes… So Assisteens, it’s a teen volunteer group. It’s based off the Assistance League of Everett. I’m the president of it this year. What the teen group does is Ts for Teens, like T-shirts to help clothe the teenagers so they have stylish things. We also do grooming (supplies). Everyone who goes to Operation School Bell gets a grooming set…We have a letter from a mom thanking Operation School Bell. You can see the difference you’re making by what you’re doing and how it affects people when you help them.
Q: What else has the group done?
A: Writing letters to soldiers. It’s very emotional.
Q: You’ve been in Assisteens for how long?
A: Since 7th grade; I was 13.
Q: Have you been involve with sports?
A: Yes. I have played volleyball, but I quit my junior year. Now I mostly coach. I’m the assistant coach for Evergreen Middle School. I help with 8th grade and at the Everett Boys &Girls Club team. My little brother is on it.
Q: How old is your brother?
A: 14. I’ve done the Everett Boys &Girls Club coaching since I was in 9th grade, and Evergreen since I was in 9th grade, too.
Q: You’re pretty busy?
A: Yes!
Q: Have you gotten academic awards?
A: National Honor Society. I was in that my junior year and this year, too.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I am president of the Book Club. It’s really fun. Reading is also what I do for fun — a lot.
Q: What are your favorite books?
A: I love Harry Potter, The Hunger Games. I also really like the Unwind series. Anything fantasy, young adult, I read pretty much everything.
Q: What’s the book club like?
A: We read different books and talk about what we’re reading. A couple times a year, we read a book together, (such as) Princess Bride. Once a year, Evergreen and North Middle School students come to our high school and talk about the same book. Sometimes we get the author to come.
Q: What are your plans for next year?
A: I want to go to the University of Washington.
Q: And what major would you like to pursue?
A: I want to be a teacher, so education.
Q: What guided you toward that as a career?
A: I think mostly coaching. I’ve always helped kids, making a difference in teaching them how do things. I love to read. I want to be an English teacher.
Q: A high school teacher?
A: Yes.
Q: Was there ever a subject that started out hard, but then later you liked it?
A: I don’t know if I started to like it, but calculus. I took calculus my first quarter of college. It didn’t go too well. But I retook it spring quarter and got a B. I studied harder for that than I ever had.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
