Senior Lilly Charest is a talented and hard-working individual, with a multitude of hobbies and passions. Being a student-athlete, Charest has enough on her plate as it is, but she enjoys making enough time for all moving parts of her life.
Charest is enrolled in a wide variety of classes, including Advanced Placement calculus and psychology, while also taking concurrent college courses English 1010 and public speaking. She is taking three dual enrollment courses this semester, and she took two during the first semester. Charest’s English teacher in her senior year is Matthew Pruitt, teaching her English 1010 and public speaking classes. “She’s great; she is proactive when she is going to be gone,” said Pruitt. “She always comes and talks to me and makes sure she knows what she is going to miss and stays on top of things.”
In Charest’s four years at Sheridan High School, she has not only taken a unique combination of classes but has also participated in sports across the board. She competed on the volleyball team from her freshman year through her junior year and has competed in indoor and outdoor track all four years of her high school career. Although combining both indoor and outdoor track can make for a long combination of seasons, Charest never finds herself getting burned out and appreciates the trials and tribulations that come along with the sport.
After coming down with mono in sixth grade, Charest’s parents decided it was in her best interest to join the track team to regain her strength. Although she was not interested in it at all, she joined the middle school track team anyway. This is where her journey started in middle school where she was competing in distance running events. After catching a glance of pole vaulting, Charest decided, “I want to do that.” From being a beginner pole vaulter in junior high to a four-time all-state pole vaulter in high school, Charest improved by leaps and bounds in her skills as well as her love for the sport. She was unsure if she would continue in track past her freshman year, but her improvements encouraged her to see where her talents and hard work could take her.
The turning point for Charest was at her sophomore state tournament where she set a new personal record for herself, beating her previous record by an entire foot. This is an incredible feat in the sport of pole vaulting. This landed Charest a second-place finish at the state tournament where she also achieved all-state for the first, but not the last time. “It was kind of a struggle in the beginning,” said Charest. “That year I was learning new things, and I didn’t realize at the time that those things would help me grow in the future.” Charest is still learning new valuables every day about her sport, even as a senior, helping her grow and improve as an athlete and as a person.
Charest has committed and signed to pole vault at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan., where she will pursue these passions and continue to further her education. During her junior year Charest began reaching out to coaches and schools all around the country, some of which she considered to be “unrealistic,” but she took multiple leaps of faith anyway. Open to every opportunity, and not wanting a single stone left unturned, Charest was eager to see what the future had in store for her track career. Later in the summer, her dad ran into her upcoming college coach and had a conversation with her. After realizing their similar morals, Charest “DM’ed her on Instagram; I didn’t know if she was going to answer,” said Charest. “And she did.” After a few phone calls and staying in touch, she made an official visit in September. “I made a checklist and every single thing was marked off,” said Charest. “I just loved it and the people were friendly and just a good community.”
Charest plans to pursue a degree in psychology and potentially a minor in American Sign Language. A possible career path for her would include being a therapist for deaf individuals.
Charest is the daughter of Ryan and Pam Charest.
