You see them in the halls everyday, but how well do you know the students of Wahlert? To give you a little more insight, we asked a few students some questions about themselves to see what they had to share. 

Gabby Moran, ‘21

Q: When was the last time you worked incredibly hard?

A: The last time I worked incredibly hard was at the end of cross country season. I didn’t want to let down my team at districts or state, so I worked really hard practices and meets to give my best effort.

Q: Are you proud of your efforts?

A: Yes, I did really well and the hard work was definitely worth it. I thought about how good it would feel in the end when I was finally done, and I could look back and know that I gave my all and didn’t have anything left. I’m proud of my efforts and accomplishments. I learned that I’m much stronger than I knew.

Gabby placed 3rd individual at Cross Country state this year.

Simon Reichel, ‘18

Q: What accomplishment of yours are you most proud of?

A: I’m most proud of being myself. For someone like me, who is transgender, it can be challenging and scary to be open with my classmates and teachers, and in general. But everyone here has been really nice for the most part. I’m most proud of being myself and not apologizing for it.

Q: What’s the most difficult part of being transgender?

A: I’d have to say the most difficult part is that on the outside, I don’t look like who I am on the inside. It hurts to know that some people, no matter who they are, can see me as something other than 100% a guy until I undergo medical procedures.

Q: How do you deal with it in your daily life?

A: I try to make myself sound and look as masculine as I can with my clothes, short hair, and trying to have a deeper voice. It makes me feel more like myself and helps people see me more as a guy. Of course, I don’t always conform to the typical male look, and I like to wear makeup sometimes. But, at the end of the day, I’m comforted to know I’m a guy, and people know and see me as a guy no matter what I’m wearing or how I look.

Gavin Mikalais-Hanson, ‘18

Q: What’s the best or worst purchase you’ve ever made?

A: I’ve got an answer for both. My best purchase was probably buying parts to build my computer. One time I messed up and bought the wrong RAM disk. By doing that, somehow Amazon messed up and gave me two RAM packages for the price of one. I cancelled one of them, and I sold the other to one of my friends for half the price, so I did make a little money from buying the wrong part.

Q: What was your experience building your computer like?

A: I was excited to put it together, but also nervous. I had my friend help me put some of the parts in so everything could fit in one case. The scariest part was putting the processor in, because you have to lock it into the motherboard, and you don’t want to bend any of the little pins on the processor or mess up the motherboard or it’s basically junk. I eventually got it set up fine, and I use it for doing homework, watching my TV shows, and playing video games.