Brooklyn Herod, 17, was excited to step into her senior year at Vian High School. She said the first day of her senior year was something she had imagined since she was in elementary school.

“I was just overly excited!” she said. “You know, it’s just something you dream of as a kid, to be a senior. I just hope that it lives up to its standards.”

For Brooklyn, senior year represents new beginnings and exciting activities.

“There are so many things you get to do your senior year,” she said. “It’s very, very exciting.”

Away from the typical highlights of being a senior, she’s looking forward to the possibility of a new band room, and of course, the upgraded Wolverine football field where, as a proud member of the Vian High School band, she will march on turf for the first time.

“It’s going to be fun,” she said. “I can hardly wait.”

She said she’s also still enjoying the brand new high school, even though she has already completed her junior year in it.

“It’s still new, it’s still fresh,” she said. Although she was sad to see the old high school building torn down, she embraces change and is excited about what’s ahead.

Brooklyn’s very active and involved in many activities at Vian High School. She participates in band; book club; Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), student council, and the National Honor Society.

She is also a member of the academic team, where she was just named Academic Queen for the school’s homecoming, which will be held on October 10.

This year, for the first time she’ll also be a member of the Vian High School choir.

Outside of school, Brooklyn loves painting, reading, swimming, and playing board games with her family.

She said one of her favorite things to do over the summer was build legos.

“I have bought more legos this past summer than I ever have in my life” she said, laughing.

After graduation in May, Brooklyn plans to attend North Oklahoma College in Enid, where she will pursue a degree in astronomy. She has an interest in space, including stars, black holes, and far away planets.

“I enjoy learning about stars and space,” she said. “I really like the astrophysics side, even though it’s a lot of math.”

She said she’s intrigued by the process of discovering and studying stars—how far they are from Earth, how they form, and what gases they contain.

“If we find a new star, we try to figure out what caused it and how it got there,” she explained.

In addition to her involvement at school and her hobbies, Brooklyn works at the Wolverine Den of Kids daycare in Vian. The time she has spent there has given her a valuable perspective when it comes to teaching kids.

“I really enjoy it,” she said. “I like the teacher’s side of it. I get to teach kids about different things. Whenever they raise their hands and they’re all so excited to answer questions, it’s exciting to see them excited, wanting to learn and be included.”

She shared that watching the kids grow and mature is one of the most rewarding parts of her job.

This past summer, Brooklyn attended multiple camps that taught her both leadership skills and personal development. She traveled to University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond where she was a part of Girls State, a government-focused camp for upcoming seniors, where she ran for and was elected as State Representative, Vice City Party Chair, and Chief of Police.

She also attended BASIC, a leadership training camp for student council members, where she gained knowledge about student body government and brought her knowledge back to Vian. Then she went to a STEM camp in Tulsa, where she built a solar powered vehicle, using the skills she learned in math, science and engineering along with team work.

At summer’s conclusion, Brooklyn attended two more camps, band and church. She shared that from her freshman year until now, she has been to 10 summer camps.

“The growth I’ve seen in myself is unimaginable,” she said. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without going to camp. If you have the chance to go to any summer camp, I strongly encourage you to.”

As she enjoys her senior year full of excitement and determination, Brooklyn offers a piece of advice that has helped her become who she is today: “You can do hard things!”

“Everyone always says, ‘Oh, I can’t do it, it’s hard,’ but my biggest thing is that you can do hard things, if you set your mind to it.” she concluded.