Jocelyn Haas

The Red Ledger: What have you been up to since you graduated?

Jocelyn Haas: After graduation I went to college at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and I was there for three semesters. Then I transferred to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and I was there for a couple semesters, and then I left on a mission for my church, and I was gone for a year and a half serving a mission in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While I was gone for that year and a half I got to share with people about my church, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After I got back from my mission I went back to BYU and I’ve been there ever since. I got married, which was great. I got married in December of 2014, and I am finishing school and I am almost done. I graduate in August with a degree in elementary education. I’m so excited. It’s been a long road, and it’s been good.

TRL: Is it crazy to think that it’s been 10 years since the school opened and you were a freshman?

JH: Yeah, that’s wild to me. It actually kind of freaks me out. When they were doing “Suessical” – my sister was in the “Suessical play” – and they said it was 10 years I had almost forgotten. I was like, “Ten years since the school opened? That’s nuts.” It’s just crazy how fast time flies and how much you can do with your life in that time if you set your mind to it. I remember my family moved in the summer right before my freshman year in high school, and so I was brand new to the school, to the area and everything, so it’s been crazy to think that was 10 years ago when that all started.

TRL: How did you feel about being apart of the first graduating class and leaving that legacy?

JH: It was pretty cool for me. It was exciting because I really liked to be involved with a lot of different things, and so being the first graduating class helped provide that, I think, in a lot of ways. Being a small class and then also being the first graduating class it was, I don’t know how it is now, but it was a lot easier to be apart of multiple sports and be apart of student council and choir and just a variety of different things. So that was nice that you could be a part of many different things and provide that legacy for a variety of sports or whatever you were into. You could leave [a legacy] with multiple areas of the school.

TRL: What was your favorite class or extracurricular?

JH: I would have to say probably soccer. I really loved all the girls on the team, they were fantastic, and, to be honest, I just miss being on a team. I’ve done intramural sports here and there on the side, but I’d have to say I miss being on a team and having that unity that comes with being with a bunch of girls every day and practicing together and working hard and setting goals together. I miss that a lot.

TRL: Was there a moment in high school that really changed or challenged you?

JH: I think probably the change comes throughout. I don’t think there was a specific moment, but just looking at myself as a freshman in high school compared to a senior graduating in high school, that change just comes throughout time as you find things that you want to be involved in and different friends and kind of become more active in high school. I feel like, as I did that then, I saw a change in myself as I was able to be more confident in myself and interacting with other people. I’d say it’s a process for me, the change throughout time.

TRL: What advice do you have for high school students?

JH: I would say embrace every opportunity that you are given. In high school you care about what people think and care about what people perceive you as, but then when you get past high school, that stuff doesn’t even matter. You should do what you want to do or if you set a goal or set your mind to something, just go for it and don’t care what other people around you think. If people are mean to you, just ignore it and be who you want to be. Don’t be afraid to set yourself out there, be uncomfortable in a situation, and be who you want to be. Don’t care about anyone else.