Senior Spotlight: Reese Downs, Youth Apprentice 

The first Senior coming into the spotlight is…myself. 

Let me introduce myself. My name is Reese Downs and I'm authoring this new Ripon Tiger Nation series where we will be featuring current Ripon High School Seniors.

I am involved in quite a few activities. I am a Co-President for the RHS National Honors Society chapter, the Treasure for our Key Club, a representative for Student Council, and a new member for the Drama Club. I also play volleyball and soccer, and if that's not enough, I also have a Youth Apprenticeship (YA) with the school district working with Mrs.Meyer who is the District’s public relations specialist.

I already have somewhat of a plan for my future. I plan on attending UW-Stout or UW-Platteville and pursuing a major in Professional Communications & Emerging Media. After playing sports my whole life, I knew that I wanted to work in sports but I really didn't know what I was going to pursue a career in. In my junior year I was a campaign leader for our Science Club’s Earth Week. I was in charge of social media and building the outreach to spread the word about all that was happening in the school. I really enjoyed it and started to take on more activities with social media. I started taking care of the Key Club social media and kept learning how to build and reach audiences. In my work for Earth Week, my work was sent over to Mrs.Meyer. After a few conversations and meetings, I was offered the chance to be one of the first Youth Apprentices with Mrs.Meyer. With this, I got the opportunity to learn more about Social Media and school PR. I started with small projects and slowly was given the opportunity to take on bigger projects like this blog. With all the opportunities that Ripon High School has given me, I have been able to know that I want my future career to be a Social Media Manager for a sports organization. 

Seniors celebrating with Coach Landerman after winning conference for Coach's last season

In all my four years here at Ripon, I feel my biggest accomplishment is my senior season of volleyball. We won conference, won a regional championship, and did much more. I’ve played volleyball my whole life, and yet this season will hold so much more meaning. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to play with the girls I have gotten to learn from and the coaching staff.

I will miss volleyball a lot but I truly think I will miss being around my friends so much. I've gained so many friends in my time here. I've gained them through sports, clubs, and mixed classes. The opportunities RHS has given me to make all the friends I have is what I will miss the most. I do also think I will miss the teams I have been lucky to be on in my four years. Again leading back to having all the friends that I do now, it wouldn't have been possible without all the opportunities RHS has given me. 

Some friends and I enjoying Homecoming activities 

I hope you got to know me a little bit and will enjoy the other RHS Seniors that I will be featuring in the upcoming weeks. I hope that I am able to show all the fun experiences current seniors are offered here in Ripon.