Katie Gray (far right) posing in her toga with other seniors in her high school yearbook.
It’s no secret that the life of a student has changed in the past few decades. Technological innovations, cultural shifts and educational reformations have drastically altered the way high schoolers learn and live. Watauga High School is no stranger to these developments, and Katie Gray and Cindy Lentz have both witnessed these changes firsthand.
Katie Gray graduated from WHS in 2000, and is currently a science teacher at the high school.
“It was really fun,” said Gray. “I loved Watauga. I was in a bunch of clubs, I ran cross country, and had a good friend group.”
High school is clearly different these days.
“I feel like [classwork] has changed a lot since high school,” Gray said. “We went from a generation who grew up having hours and hours of homework to realizing that kids have lives outside of school, and I think a lot of the teachers here honor that.”
Cindy Lentz was a basketball player for Watauga, and graduated from the high school in 1998. She was previously an athletic trainer and now teaches Health Science at WHS. She thinks a large way a student’s life has changed has to do with their access to technology.
“I think that, while technology is great, everyone’s always on their phone,” said Lentz. “I’m glad I wasn’t, because I think it takes away from having conversations and being able to communicate and interact with your peers.”
Gray and Lentz were both student athletes during their time at Watauga and agree that a high school athlete’s life has changed as well. Gray still remains active in the sport and is now a cross country coach.
“I think when I was in school there was a big separation between Varsity and JV. They were fine, but we didn’t have a lot of interaction. They didn’t stick around and cheer for us. They would do their own thing. So now that’s really changed, which is awesome,” Gray said. “I think that we’re more of a team now. The kids really try to make sure that everybody feels included. It’s a huge effort.”
Gray is grateful for the opportunity to see the team from a coach’s perspective.
“I love coaching. It's fantastic," said Gray. "You get to know students really well, you get to cheer for them, you get to see their successes, you get to talk them through their failures. I’m happy that I’m not racing, and am just able to cheer them on.”
Lentz, who majored in Athletic Training, says the life of a student athlete has “drastically changed.”
“Athletics as a whole is completely different. The expectations of athletes are very high,” Lentz said. “We didn’t have workouts year round, we didn’t have club teams to play on. We played basketball from October to March and that was sort of it.”
Lentz also had some comments on Watauga High School’s change in location.
“My first year in 2009, we were still at the old high school, which was very odd to me,” said Lentz. “But it was a lot of fun, just being back. There were a lot of cool things about that old building, but the newness and the technology here is just phenomenal.”
Gray agrees.
“I think it’s kind of cool that I work at Watauga High School, but it’s also really nice not to be in the old building, because it was a random building,” Gray said. “There was an atrium in the middle, and about seventeen thousand ways to get out of the school.”
There’s no denying that the life of a student has changed, but Gray hopes some changes are for the better.
“When I was going through high school, I always felt like the teachers were out to get me,” Gray said. “I hope that that’s shifting a little bit. I try to, in my classroom, make sure the kids know that I’m not trying to fail them; I want them to learn.”
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