“You can’t win every game by yourself. You need a team behind you to help you, because without them, you’ll never win a game,” freshman Casey Sproat said.

Basketball has always been a part of Sproat’s life. To be exact, this will be her tenth year of playing basketball. Watching her practice, you can hear the “swish” of the net as she shoots a three, or the pounding the ball makes when it hits the floor as she dribbles down the court. In games, she plays post, and always brings motivation to the court.

“I started playing basketball for Skokie Youth [also known as CSL], and then I started playing for my middle school, Fairview, in 6th grade until 8th. I just love the sport and couldn’t wait until high school so that I could play on a higher level,” Sproat said.

Transitioning from middle school to high school really wasn’t a problem for Sproat because she is a very social person, and knew lots of people from community and school affiliated activities.

“I was really excited for an environment change, and even though I already knew lots of people, I was still excited to make new friends,” Sproat said. “I remember walking into school the first week and thinking ‘OMG new people!'”

Sproat always had an idea of what high school was like because she was able to see  her older sister, senior Michelle Sproat, go through the experiences of high school. You rarely see the two together at school unless they are walking into the building during the morning from their car, or meeting really quick during free periods if one needs some help from the other.

“She’s just a text away, which makes it easy because she is always there, even though I don’t see her that much,” Sproat said.

Sproat was also very excited to have more freedom than she had in junior high. The ability to choose her own classes and electives was exciting because she could be in many classes with many people. She also really likes that during her lunch period there were different people she could sit with and talk to.

“The freedom gives me the ability to ‘move about the cabin,'” Sproat says. “I can go see a teacher, see my friends and get food from either the cafe or the vending machines. It’s just nice not being stuck with your entire grade during lunch like how it was in junior high.”

It’s always important when freshmen start high school, they feel comfortable and encouraged throughout their classes. Many students find their favorite teacher within their freshmen year, which is just what Sproat did. She instantly made a connection with her English teacher, Alexis Matesi.

“Casey is always making unique connections between the content we are learning and her own personal experiences,” Matesi said. “These connections are valuable to her classmates because they push them to think critically and explore other perspectives not their own.”

Sproat enjoys going to her English class because instead of being told how to comprehend things, Matesi allows her students to determine their own comprehension of a reading.

“She let’s us speak our minds while doing group discussions and it’s great,” Sproat said. “This makes her class fun, but we are still able to learn and understand the topic we are in.”

“Casey is an extremely focused student,” Matesi said. “She is not afraid to ask questions and self advocates for herself. ”

“I just really like high school and can’t wait to see what my next three years have in store for me,” Sproat said.