As a new school year starts, so do new friendships. With the freshman coming in, everyone will see new faces around the building with new stories to learn. Incoming freshman Ruth Oglesby is one of those stories.
Ruth is fifteen years old and just started ninth grade at Padua Academy. She is from Wilmington, Delaware, and she is an only child. She has a long connection with Wilmington and this school because she graduated from Tower Hill, and her two older cousins actually went here! After visiting her cousins, Ruth explained how much she liked Padua.
“I like the curriculum and structure of it,” she said.
The classes she is taking this year are the basics: World Civilizations, Literature, Algebra, Biology, etc. She likes English because she loves to read and write. Her love of writing also encouraged her to join Multimedia Journalism, which is a great way to test out her writing skills.
“I generally say English is my favorite, but I haven’t had that much of English work so far, so I would say English or World Civilizations.”
The Coronavirus pandemic has been a struggle for everyone. Some of the ways Ruth kept herself busy was taking walks and trying to attend online Zoom mass sessions with her extended family.
Technology, however, can be very difficult so the Zoom calls never really worked out. “Because my uncle was a priest, they would zoom to church,” said Ruth. “But, with the outstanding generational gap, it proved harder to accomplish getting everyone onto zoom.”
Taking walks and attending mass over Zoom were not her only interests, though. Like mentioned before, she enjoys reading and writing, but she also likes running and listening to music. She does not play any sports or instruments, but she did enjoy playing field hockey and lacrosse in middle school.
Adding onto her interests in reading and listening to music, her favorite book series is the very well known Harry Potter series. In regards to music, her favorite bands are The Smiths, The Cure, and The Violent Femmes. She likes alternative rock, indie, or classic rock.
The pandemic is not a great way to start off high school. Although school is a struggle, it is not the only thing impacted by the virus. Ruth’s father lives and works in New York City. She says that seeing him less often is a struggle for her.
Hopefully students will be able to return to the rest of their time at Padua normally, but after high school, Ruth wants to go to a bigger college, but is not sure which one yet. She would like to major in either English or psychology.
It is always nice to have something in common with your peers, so here are a couple fun facts about Ruth Oglesby: Her favorite animal is a fox because she grew up with them around her house, and she has read the entire Harry Potter series over 3 times!
Now Ruth is just one of many new people to get to know! Be sure to branch out of your comfort zone and meet new people.
