Senior Spotlight is a Cascadia Daily News annual series, highlighting the lives and experiences of graduating seniors from Whatcom County high schools.
JUSTIN REED
Justin Reed attended Options High School all four years and enjoys welding in his aerospace manufacturing class. He represents students as an Associated Student Body co-president and serves on the Student Advisory Committee for the district. Outside of school, he spends hours training at the Fight Lab for boxing and runs his own landscaping business. He plans to attend Whatcom Community College in the fall to become a physical therapy assistant.
Tell me about boxing. How’d you get into it and what do you like about it?
I’ve been going for four years. What got me into it was anger issues. I used to get into fights, and it was problematic. To stop getting into fights for no reason, I had to find a separate outlet for my anger. That became boxing and then counseling, as well. But, boxing helped a lot more than counseling did, I think. Like, I could get the emotions out, and then I could find out how to deal with them next time in counseling. It became almost an addiction six months into it. We started doing sparring classes. I don’t know what it is. I have ADHD, so when I’m sparring, it’s like a moment of clarity. All I can think about is how I’m moving, how my opponent is moving. It’s great to just have what I’m doing in my mind and not one thousand other things.
How did starting boxing change you as a person?
I became a lot more responsible, and that’s not even because of boxing. That’s because of my coach, [Martin Gonzalez.] He’s very strict, and he doesn’t allow tomfoolery. He doesn’t want you to be messing around. He doesn’t want you to be hanging out with the wrong crowd. If it seems like you’re doing something he doesn’t want you to be doing, he’ll tell you straight to your face. It’s hard love, and it was probably the best thing for me at the time. I became more dedicated to everything that I was doing. I got no credits in my first semester of my freshman year, and right after I joined boxing, I started working in class again. That was just the biggest change.
What advice would you give your younger self?
If I could tell myself one thing, I think it would probably be: My efforts won’t fail.
You learned to weld in your aerospace classes. What do you like about it?
I think it’s also related to my ADHD because it’s one of the things that I can just sit there and then my mind goes blank. I’m like a robot, just move the puddle, move the puddle [puddle is molten metal in welding].
Is there a teacher or staff member who has impacted your high school experience?
I would say Mr. [Jared] Greenwood, who is no longer here sadly, but he had a huge impact on me in my first few years. He was my manufacturing tech teacher, and it was where I started being interested in woodworking. I had never touched a saw before, and when I got into class, it became my daily drive to go to school. Other than Mr. Greenwood, it would be Ms. [Doriane] Gunnels because she is the P.E. teacher. I have taken every P.E. class that’s available to us, and she’s also had a great impact on me. Other than that, I think Mr. [Joe] Wooding. He has helped me get into gear for after-high-school life. He’s helped me as much as he could with getting my FAFSA done, getting my resume made, applying to different colleges and looking at different apprenticeship pathways.
How do you feel about graduating?
I’ve wanted to be done with high school for a very long time. I’m very happy that it’s finally coming to an end, and I’m happy that it turned out the way that it did, as well. When I started high school, I had an idea that I probably wasn’t going to graduate. I was thinking about dropping out or getting my GED. Now, here I am still getting almost straight As and graduating on time, and I’m set to go to college. That’s insane.
KENDRA HOLCOMB
At just 17, Kendra Holcomb is ready to fight fires. First stop, graduation from Options High School, and next stop, training. During her time in high school, she participated in the First-In Training and Education (FITE) class through the Northwest Career and Technical Academy where she learned the basics of firefighting. She enjoys travel and spends time outside of school with her family and working in guest services at a local hotel.
How are you feeling about graduation?
If you asked me a year ago, I wouldn’t have thought I would be graduating. But also, I would have been like, ‘Heck yeah, let me graduate. Let me be done.’ Now that I’m really close to it, I’m kind of sad, especially since I just switched schools. I really like it here, and I wish I had more time here.
What was the switch like?
It was so much better … I went from basically not showing up at school at all to showing up every day.
What was your early high school experience like?
It was pretty much COVID-19. I mean, it happened in eighth grade, and that was kind of hard. I had just lost my grandfather before COVID, so things were already pretty difficult. Then going into high school, I had a few friends and I knew people, but I just didn’t have connections with people. If I did, they ended up breaking off. That might have been because of me, because I wasn’t really doing well mentally and [that] can reflect on other people. It was kind of difficult for a while.
What advice would you give to yourself a year ago?
Probably just to not give up, just to keep going.
Why are you interested in being a wildland firefighter?
I’m currently in a fire and EMS class through Northwest Career and Technical Academy. I have family who did firefighting, and then my sister was also in the same fire class that I am [in] now, so that introduced me to it. I really wanted to get away from the multiple classes I had. I was struggling a lot. I had lots of anxiety and other mental health issues. My sister did FITE, she enjoyed it and I’m going to do firefighting. It might be a good idea to just try it out, see if it’s something I actually want to pursue. You’re able to experience a lot of things that most people aren’t able to, especially at such a young age. We get to go to a drill tower; we get to put on real firefighting gear. At the end of the year, we do a real live fire that is supervised, but that’s really fun.
I have always had a love for helping other people, animals, things, the environment, and I feel like just a while doing wildland is a very rewarding job. I get to kind of do all those things.
What do you have to do moving forward?
I’ve already got all my certifications that I need at 17, so I just had to apply. We had a Zoom class to just refresh our memories and go over some safety stuff. In June, we will have a physical test and field day. So, we get to meet each other and we’ll get to see our station in Alder Creek, Washington. We typically respond to places like Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California.
How does it feel that six months from now you could be out fighting real fires?
I’m excited, but I’m not going to lie — it is a bit nerve-wracking. It is a pretty dangerous job. Lots of things can happen. You always have to be aware of what’s going on.
What are you most excited for?
I’d say meeting new people and also, obviously, putting out fires.
Visit CDN’s Senior Spotlight page to learn about Whatcom County graduates from other schools. New profiles will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until June 19.
Hailey Hoffman is a CDN visual journalist; reach her at haileyhoffman@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 103.
