Ask Katherine

This is the last Catholic Teen Blog post of the school year! Creating and developing this blog has undoubtedly been one of the highlights of my junior year. I’m very proud of how far it has come, and I’m looking forward to further developing it next year!

On my request, our followers on Instagram (@modgvoxnews) sent in some questions for me to answer! So here’s our last post of the year!

Question: How do you juggle school and work?

Answer: I have held the same part-time job since the beginning of high school, and while it isn’t easy, it teaches me so much! The mentality I bring to the balance of school and work is that there really isn’t supposed to be a balance! My place in life right now is as a daughter, a sister, and a student. This takes priority over my work scheduling. While I definitely want to be there for my employer and fulfill that responsibility, I’ve learned that it is good to be firm about where my priorities are as a student worker. It’s better to be firm and then stick to it, rather than say you’re more available than you are and have to back out when needed. Short answer: don’t juggle, prioritize.

If you could spend one day with any person, dead or alive, BESIDE Jesus or Mary, who would it be?

Because I’m taking Medieval History & Literature this year, I’d have to say Queen Isabella of Spain. By no means do I think that she lived a perfect life, but she united Catholicism, femininity, and magnetic leadership in a revolutionary way at that time. I would love to see her in action and learn from her in person!

What is your favorite LS class you’ve ever taken?

While I especially love the LS history classes I’ve taken (Mrs. Schuth and Mrs. Moore, you are the best!), as well as Latin III this past year with Mr. Kuenstle, my all-time favorite is definitely News Production with Mrs. McCarthy, the class that produces the content on this site!

That might sound like a shameless self-promotion, but it isn’t. I love the freedom of creativity that runs rampant among students hundreds of miles apart. I love the back and forth of ideas, the supportive atmosphere, and the feeling that we can do just about anything we can imagine!

If procrastination were a subject, what grade would you get?

A+.

If you could sit in on a conversation with any two saints, who would they be?

St. Edith Stein and St. Philip Neri. Edith was an intellectual in a man’s world, not proud or stern, but loving. Philip Neri defied all reason with his reckless love, mercy and humility! I think they exemplify two very different ends of the spectrum of saints, and I love them both!

If you were given the chance to go on a road trip with four people from the Bible, other than the holy family, who would they be?

1. Esther, because she was a total boss
2. Mary Magdalene, because she had a deep connection with our merciful Jesus
3. Joshua,  a symbol of strength and courage in the Old Testament
4. Jonathan, the son of Saul, a humble guy who loved his friends

What is your advice for rising 9th graders?

Remain balanced. One of the things I regret about my freshman year, something I am still learning how to overcome, is that I didn’t balance and maintain my spiritual, physical, and mental well-being. I became so stressed by my homework that I would procrastinate, which left little time to exercise or even properly relax, which would cause further stress. Even when I “relaxed,” I wasn’t taking care of myself mentally because in the back of my mind were all the tasks ditching. My stress affected my relationships and my spiritual life. My advice to you: don’t waste your time. It might seem like the consequences only show themselves in your school, which is bad enough, but it actually affects your well-being overall. You deserve better than that.

Thanks for reading! I can’t wait for next year!