School: River Ridge High School in Lacey.
Parents or guardians: Robert and Debbie Moody.
Best personal achievement: I think my best personal achievement in my life is buying and training my own horse by myself. I feel really successful and good about myself every time I am out at the barn because I know that all my hard work and dedication finally paid off when I get to ride my horse, Ditto.
How I spend my time: Right now a lot of my time is spent on getting ready for college and filling out scholarship applications, but that isn’t always the most fun thing to do. For fun I go horseback riding, I train horses, compete in various riding competitions such as barrel racing, pole bending, dressage and show jumping. Horses are my main passion in life. I also enjoy hanging out with all of my friends, helping manage the River Ridge Boys’ Swim Team, participating in River Ridge Theatre’s productions as a technical crew member. Oh, and also very important to me would be baking cakes and cupcakes with my best friend, Bree.
Favorite subjects: Calculus, psychology and theatre.
Favorite movie: “The Losers,” “Despicable Me,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Flicka.”
Favorite book: “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks and “The Horse Whisperer” by Nicholas Evans.
Dream job: Therapeutic horseback riding instructor.
Someone I respect: I really respect my parents. They’ve put up with me through the years and never once discouraged me from following my dreams.
The hardest part of being a student is: Not letting the social aspects of school get to you. As a student you just have to realize that pushing through and making it to the end of high school is the most important thing. Also, as I get closer to graduation, it gets increasingly more nerve-racking trying to come up with ways to pay for a college education.
My future ambitions or career aspirations include: Attending college where I will major in psychology and minor in therapeutic riding. I would love to have a career in the horse world, but it is a very tough industry. I hope to succeed as a therapeutic riding instructor where I can put my passions to good use – helping people and loving horses.
Someone famous I would like to meet: Rascal Flatts. They are some of the most amazing country singers/songwriters in the music world and they completely blow my mind. If I am in a horrible mood, I turn on a song by them. If I am in a great mood and having the time of my life, I turn on a song by them. If I am just out at the barn, working, riding, anything – I bring my IPod just to listen to them and sing as I go about my day. No matter what point I am at in my life, they seem to inspire me to keep pushing through.
Someday, looking back on my life, I’ll be able to say: “I made my dreams come true. I made my parents proud. And I’m doing something I love to do which I know most Americans can’t say.”
Biggest challenge facing teenagers today: Social and economic pressure. I think teens and children are getting influenced at increasingly younger ages to do things that are not in their best interests. Also, with the economy as horrible as it is right now, it makes things a lot harder – harder to get jobs, harder to pay for a car and gas, harder to pay for college. I sincerely hope things are better in the future as I would hate to see my own children go through the difficulties that I have had trying to find ways to make sure I can afford college let alone dealing with influences from ads, peers, etc.
One thing in the world I would change if I could: It is really hard to choose just one thing to change about the world, but I think right now because I am dealing with this issue myself, I would change the world so that there was a way for a student right out of high school to be able to easily pay for college and chase their dreams. All children should have the chance to go to college without stressing about paying for it.
Nominated by: Theater teacher Leslie Van Leishout,. She wrote: “Hanna has been an amazing student. She has fought many personal and health issues to go through high school with excellent grades and involvement in activities. ...She is a friend to all and helps peers and teachers alike.”
