“Hi, my name’s Arielle and I joined Sacred Heart in sophomore year (2018)! For university, I’m going back home to Australia and I’ll be attending college in Sydney doing an International Relations degree with a focus on Francophone studies. I’m really excited to go back home and see my family and friends who I haven’t seen in years but also to just be around familiar accents and places.

One of my favourite memories at ISSH is the tenth-grade sleepover. It was so much fun— we got to play games, and run around in the gym playing loud music. It was just nice to be with school friends, at school, outside of the usual school environment.

Another favourite memory of mine is track season. Though I only experienced one proper track season in 10th grade, it was the best season. Us (at the time) sophomores made so many memories at the track meets and were able to get so much closer. To this day, our “Track 2019” group chat is still active. It was unfortunate we weren’t able to have another proper season but we still made the most of what we had this year by spending each practice not only running and training but also just having fun and being social since for the most part, track was the only time we were all together.  

I only went on the eleventh-grade excursion but it was definitely a good experience. Despite a near-death moment while meditating (due to my intense cough attacks), I really enjoyed each day trip we had, especially the quaint little town. Another thing I really enjoyed on the junior excursion was the food— every meal we had such good options such as fresh fish and veggies. There was always something new for me to try! I’ll also always remember the fun we had at night, playing games that got a little intense, and when we’d all sneak into each other’s rooms for late-night chats— it definitely helped our grade grow a lot closer.

My weirdest memory at ISSH was probably just senior year as a whole. Since with COVID-19 we weren’t able to do much or have many normal experiences, the year felt quite low-key which was unexpected. Although it was different than usual, I think it allowed for less stress and pressure during the year since without all the external activities there was more time to focus on school and university preparation.

I’m thankful for my education at Sacred Heart. Having gone to 10 schools in the last 15 years I’ve experienced many education systems (Australian, American, British, and French) and I’m lucky to have finished school at a school like Sacred Heart with its emphasis on education and the quality of it.

A piece of advice I’d like to leave behind is just to make the most of everything. High school goes by so fast (even though sometimes it feels like it couldn’t go any slower) and before you know it’ll be the week before you graduate! I also think it’s really important to find a balance between your school and your downtime so try not to feel stressed by the other energies in the grade making you panic that you should be studying more. Everyone’s workload is different. Finally, don’t pull too many all-nighters just to study the night before a test— it’s not worth it and your mental and physical health is more important.” — Arielle