Traveling Back and Moving Forward: Focusing in on Clara Dolan

By: Karina Varela

The politics, jokes, our personal achievements: 2019 was a time of change and self-improvement. All of our trials and tribulations collected into a singular year. But today we’re discussing the successes and growth of Clara Dolan, a 13-year-old Bush Middle School student, who’s laughter and sweet smiles light up a room in an instant.

On Friday, January 10, I had the opportunity to interview Clara about the past decade and what she wishes to do in light of the new year. To begin, I asked about the past term. She discussed that in 2019, her greatest accomplishment was “making friends”. It was the first year she actually had a friend group and also happened to be a time where she was more sure of herself than ever. She had finally seen that beyond having friends, she instead, had a second family. Furthermore, I asked Clara what she wished she could’ve changed in the previous year. She replied, “I wish I would’ve been more productive.” The distractions of the world hinder us from doing what we hoped to have done but never manage to attain, most find this frustrating and as for Clara, this also holds true. She has faith that this year she can amend, what she believes to be her past mistakes.

Transitioning into 2020, Clara plans on finishing her first Youtube video. Though she is at a young age, her goals are as big as her spirit. According to her, she hopes to create a commentary or animation video as her first upload. Unfortunately, with school and her habit of procrastination, she was unable to achieve her goal in the last decade. But this year she is assured that she will be able to. In this year, Clara has claimed that she wants to improve on her overall grades and quick-thinking in regards to school work. Especially considering that in the next few months she will move onto high school. But for the moment, middle school is her time to find room for improvement.
We know what last year had done to us, or even, for us. But now we need to prepare for these coming years because just like Clara, there is always a need for development. 2020 is a new year, a new decade, so: Bring it on.

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