By Maddie Soldaat
Senior Jennings Wine says he has always liked school. Even as a little kid, he remembers crying as he begged his mom to give him homework.
From then on he knew he had a passion.
Overachievers are known to make great impacts to the world around us. Many students here at Delta go above and beyond.
Every.
Single.
Day.
He says he often gets bored on breaks since there isn’t much to do.
“I may not like school all the time, but I like the schedule that school brings,” Wine says.
He says the reason he is determined to do so well in school is because he knows it will pay off in the future. He originally planned to go to Ball State University for three years to go through their pre-chiropractic program. However, he has recently changed to Kentucky Christian University to study biology and play football.
Afterward, he may still go to Logan University, a school in Chesterfield, Missouri, for chiropractic and health sciences, for three more years. After graduation, he would then get his license and start working as a chiropractor..
Along with being a full-time student, Wine says he is also involved in football, for which he received the academic all-state award.
Setbacks can come along with all of this success, he says, but he looks at setbacks a different way.
“Nine times out of ten setbacks are good for me,” Wine says. This shows him that he needs to fix something and can help him focus on a topic.
In his eyes that is success. Being able to improve and conquer something.
“Being better than I was the day before,” Wine says.
He says focusing on school all the time can make it hard to balance school and personal life.
“Organization is really key,” Wine says. He recently got a planner and it has increased his organization skills immensely.
Wine says with all of the school work and extracurriculars it can be stressful, especially when multiple things take away your focus.
Classical music is something that he listens to and helps him. He likes it all, his playlist being almost 13 hours long.
He says in his four years of high school he has learned much more than just math, science, English, etc. He has also learned many life lessons.
“I firmly believe that cheaters never prosper,” Wine says. “People will do less work and get praised for something that they did better than you, and that’s okay.”
Although it is quite frustrating, he knows he did the work and got the full experience out of it, which is most important.
Freshman Shiloh Bunch believes that being an overachiever is about doing the best you can in everything and more.
“You want to prove that you are very good at what you do,” Shiloh says.
She says the future and being able to succeed is what motivates her, but God is what motivates her most.
“I want to honor Him in everything I do,” Shiloh says.
She says she does her devotions every night and writes in her gratitude journal, which helps her get into perspective that she isn’t alone and Christ will give her strength.
With this in mind, she knows she doesn’t go through her day alone.
She says that in the future she hopes to go to medical school and have a career in the medical field.
While she is still in high school, she says she wants to keep her all-A honor roll streak, just like in middle school when she got a certificate for having all A’s her entire three years there.
She says when she needs to focus it can be difficult with multiple people around you talking, but she has some strategies for tuning them out.
Listening to white noise is one strategy. She says when she puts her headphones in it blocks out all unwanted distractions so she can focus on getting things done.
When it comes to tests, Shiloh says she believes she studies more than the average high school student. She takes her time going over each topic, making sure she understands it. Many students go into tests with no preparation and wing it.
Shiloh on the other hand studies as much as she needs, learning more and comprehending the work better.
“When I take a test I feel really confident and usually perform well,” she says.
It can be hard to balance, she says. She can’t hang out with friends often since she is busy with school work or extracurriculars most of the time.
However, depending on the difficulty of an assignment, she will put down the pencil and hang out with her friends.
When it comes to overachieving, she says she has learned a few lessons. There is one that sticks out the most.
“When you’re an overachiever, you don’t have to be perfect,” Shiloh says.
She says she used to struggle with striving to be perfect a lot, but over time she realized that if she gets a bad grade on a test, it doesn’t make her any less of an academic person.
She says the worst grade she has ever gotten was a B. Although it may not seem like a bad grade to some, she knows it is not her personal best, and she believes she can do better.
She says that doing her best in everything is what success is, even if it’s not being a 110% student.
Shiloh says that when she encounters setbacks, she will always be upset at first, but she will work through the problem by asking her teachers or her sister Jordan questions.
She asks lots of questions and isn’t scared to do so. She says asking questions helps her understand the assignment fully.
“Each year it’s going to grow me as a person and help me get closer and closer to going to college and having a good career,” Shiloh says.
She says she wants to make sure she has the best opportunities at the best places.
Sophomore Caden Moss has always said he was a natural in the academic field.
He says when he first got to middle school students had been saying the classes were getting harder, but for him he thought they were easy.
He hopes to go to an Ivy League school, get his doctorate, and study physics to become a physics teacher.
“I have big dreams. I want to go to big places and do big things,” Moss says. “I want to make as much of an impact as I can.”
When it comes to people around him being distracting, he says in his many years in school he has learned to naturally tune out distraction.
He says focusing on what’s in front of him is the most important thing.
He defines success as doing what he knows he can do and reaching his expectations.
When he has setbacks he knows he will be able to make it up whether it’s with extra credit or the next assignment.
He says if he gets anything below an A he is disappointed because he knows to go to big places he needs to have the best education and stand out.
To balance school life and regular life he says he makes sure all of his work is completed and turned in during the week so he is stress free on the weekend.
He says he does his work in order of what is most important and due first.
“You can always do more that you think you can,” Moss says. “Never doubt yourself.”
Once big accomplishment he has made is staying number one in the sophomore class rank for a long time. He says the way he has been able to stay number one so far is because of how much work he put in the past and it pays off throughout the school year.
Senior Mackemzie Lipps says the feeling of accomplishment is one of the best feelings in the world.
When you do something and know you made an impact it’s special, wholesome even.
She says it’s something that goes along with daily life at school. She completes all of her assignments and gets good grades.
“You need to have the mindset that you can go above the bar that’s set,” Mackemzie says, noting that if you don’t it can hold you back.
Ever since she was little she has known the importance of school. Now with her being in the application process for college, the good grades, strong GPA, and school involvement has paid off.
“I now have a lot more options than I would’ve had if I had bad grades and didn’t get involved,” Mackemzie says.
But procrastination does get the best of her sometimes.
She says planning ahead and making outlines really helps her stay on track and not get behind.
Setbacks do happen, though.
She says whenever a setback occurs she tries to overcome it immediately and deal with the situation upfront. She knows getting discouraged won’t help so she keeps a positive mindset and outlook.
So she can do better the next time, she studies extra hard to ensure she understands the material to its full potential.
What she considers “bad” grades can vary depending on the subject.
She says science and math bad grades start at a B, and her English, history and humanities bad grades start at B+.
Being an overachiever is important to her. She believes that when you think you can do something, there is usually much more you can do.
“In the words of the Delta tennis program, always aim high and always look to achieve more than what you can,” Mackemzie says.
Among her accomplishments is the Trunk or Treat event that happens every October. She became the co-founder of the event her sophomore year and it has since become a popular event, more people coming each year.
She says another achievement of hers is bringing one of her worst grades (calculus) up during finals week. She studied for a week straight and aced her finals, bringing her grade up from a C+ to a B+.
In her four years at Delta she says she has learned more than just subjects. She has also learned life lessons.
“The truth is there is only so much time in a day,” Mackemzie says. “Don’t wear yourself thin.”
To help her balance her busy life she says the week is strictly school and sports such as swimming and tennis. She says during the week she makes sure she gets everything done to make time on the weekend for her friends and family.
In all she says being successful means believing in yourself.
“If I did my best and knew that I did my best and did everything I could, that’s what makes me successful,” Mackenzie says.
