St. Louis High School has a wide variety of students who partake in afterschool activities, like hobbies or in sports. Many enjoy more simple things like gardening, drawing, writing and a lot more. A hobby is an interest or activity in which someone devotes time to during one’s free time. Here at SLHS, students show their love for their hobbies throughout years of participating in that activity, whether they have been participating in that activity.
Sophomore Bella Patterson has one after-school hobby which is dance. Patterson said, “I have been doing dance since I was about three, so 12 years. The thing I love most about it is the fact that I’m surrounded by new people, ones that don’t go to my school. It’s a change of environment. I can see myself continuing on with dance in the future, possibly on a college dance team. It could be a career for someone if they try hard enough, as it is very hard to make it to big productions.” Patterson concluded, “I do multiple different genres. However, my favorite is definitely hip hop, and my least favorite is ballet. I would say the hardest thing is just learning how to do all the different movements, like turns.”
Some hobbies could be both something you do as work as well as something that can be turned into art or used in a creative way. Alexis Hitsman, a junior at SLHS, has one hobby also and that is welding. She has had this hobby since she was five years old and has been doing it for 11 years. Hitsman said, “My uncle showed me how to weld, and I thought it was cool. I just continued to do it, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I just enjoy being out in the shop and working my butt off. I do think this is an ongoing hobby of mine, and this can definitely benefit someone’s future by being able to get a job and make money.” A hobby like this definitely has its ups and downs and there are going to be things some people find harder to do in this hobby than others. However, for Hitsman, she said, “The hardest thing is getting a good weld but the easiest is starting it.”
Additionally, Hitsman has also made things to show at the Gratiot County Fair for Youth. She said, “I mainly weld to make things to show and sell at the fair, but when I’m not working on those, I’m just welding pieces of metal together just to get better at all the different angles of welding like vertical, horizontal, flat, and overhead.” Many students achieve great accomplishments when it comes to their hobbies, such as winning an award for what they do or accomplishing a goal for themselves. Students show their creative side through what they do best and through the love of their hobbies.
Hobbies at SLHS help students show their personalities and help them express themselves.
