Our seniors are graduating. It happens every year. We take this week to sit down and discuss senior memories, profiles, hopes, futures, and words of wisdom.

By Middle-School Blogger Louisa Richardson

This week I had the privilege of sitting down with one of Palm Valley’s very own–Maya Karpaty. I interviewed her about her upcoming graduation and life after high school. The interview mainly focused on her personal life, but the interview did include some pieces of advice for our new high schoolers and some advice for the high school.

In the fall, Maya is going to the University of Puget Sound. She received admission offers from many other schools, including scholarships to places like UC Santa Cruz and the University of Puget Sound. Puget Sound is located in northwestern Washington, specifically in Tacoma. Maya is excited to try Washington, but she isn’t sure she wants to move there when she is all done with college. 

Maya is a double major in songwriting and literature, but she says that she values songwriting a little bit more. Maya says that her dream is to travel the world touring with her guitar. Maya sings about relationships and universal truths. Her inspiration is Phoebe Bridgers. You can find Maya’s music on Maya’s soundcloud. 

Maya Karpaty says Ms. Schapiro, Ms. Bassanelli, and her parents have been a very big help in getting her to where she is today. Although Maya is currently dead set on attending Puget Sound, her views on college have changed since she was a kid. Maya says, “When I was little, I was totally oblivious to college, and the way that people had their dream schools.” She continues, “This mindset was a big help later because I didn’t have one school I wanted to go to or one major path.”  

Speaking of dream schools, Maya’s favorite thing about Palm Valley is how the teachers care less about grades and more about the individual students. She states, “I got here in junior year, from a public school. The school [there] was great, but the teachers didn’t have as good of a support system as they do here; in comparison to my last school the teachers show support and I can also get to know my teachers; it feels more . . . that they are on your side rather than just throwing papers at you.” However, as great of a school as Palm Valley is, she does have some ways it can improve! She says, “Make things more fun for students because we’re still kids and we need school to be more than just constant work.”  

All in all, Maya Karpaty is a great person. She was extremely kind and very honest in her interview. She seems to know what she is doing when it comes to college. She encourages us all to not stress about what we’re doing in the future. She says focus on ourselves and our good health. In short, Maya is a great influence on our youth here at PVS and an impressive graduate.