The Bellefonte Area High school (BAHS) has many great students. However, there are a select few who exceed the others. Senior, John Walters, is one of these students.
John is involved in many different extracurricular activities. These include Band, B the Change club, Boy Scouts, and Class Cabinet. John is the President for both band and B the Change club, and is also Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 370 for Boy Scouts.
Being in so many clubs has taught John new skills and values. Boy Scouts has left a particular impact on him.
“Boy Scouts has taught me how to be the best version of myself through working on my leadership, my values, and random skills like programming or weaving a basket or building an alarm clock,” John said.
Boy Scouts wasn’t the only extracurricular that he has gained values from.
“My favorite part of B the Change is collaborating with other people to try to make a positive impact on the school. With Class Cabinet it’s nice to be able to have a say in planning for different things,” John said.
John’s girlfriend, senior Elizabeth Cogan, has a sweet inside joke with John.
“In the afternoons, I go to wait for him in the band room, and I always ask other kids “Where’s trumpet boy?”. Most know exactly who I’m talking about and will point me right to him. It’s become a bit of an inside joke and I refer to him as a ‘trumpet boy’ if there is any band event happening.” She said.
Like many people she is proud of John and admires him.
“ I am very proud of John and all the heart he puts into his work. John is a strong worker who puts as much effort as possible into everything he does. He is an extremely kind person who finds it hard to even think of others in a negative way. I am extremely lucky to have someone as amazing as him in my life.”
Like everyone, John has hobbies that he likes to do in his free time. One of the biggest ones for him is biking.
“I like going on adventures on my bike to places I’ve never been or on paths I’ve never taken. For example, I’ve biked to the exact center of PA, Biked from Houserville to Boalsburg then got lost in (two) parks at once, and at one point accidentally biked up Mt. Nittany, which I would not recommend,” John said.
Along with biking, John is also a passionate spacecraft fan. He is constantly learning more information about the models he builds.
“I also like to build and tinker with models, specifically models of spacecraft from various movies. The T-70 X-Wing from Star Wars is one of my favorite things to ever exist,” John said.
John is able to share his love for Star Wars with one of his favorite teachers, Mr. Rebarchak.
“My favorite teacher is definitely Rebarchak, he’s a cool guy to be around and I can nerd out about Star Wars with him,” John said.
John’s plans after high school are to attend Penn State University to pursue a degree in Architecture, but if for some reason that falls through, his backup plan is to get a degree in Aerospace Engineering. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t parts of school he won’t miss.
“I think the thing I’ll miss most about high school is the people I won’t get to see and talk to and laugh with anymore. I’ll miss staying up super late working on some project on the night before it’s due. There’s a lot I’ll be glad to leave behind, but the things I’ll miss far outweigh them,” John said.
