Moving on can be hard, especially when you are leaving behind a big part of your life. Our seniors are all leaving soon. As much as we love them, we know we have to let them go and let them grow into the inspirational women that we know they will be. Most of them spent their entire high school life at Sacred Hearts Academy, while others have been here since junior kindergarten. No matter how long they were a lancer, they all left a mark.

In this next year, we will be losing some of our top athletes, smartest scholars and ,most importantly, our friends.  This is nothing to dread, though. This article will highlight some of the Academy’s athletes and their experiences and cherished memories.

Seniors from the paddling, basketball, volleyball, softball, and swimming teams shared some of their bonding moments, accomplishments, struggles and advice for underclassmen. 

Emily Trueba, who has participated in the Academy’s paddling team for the past three years, is concluding her senior year and speaks about some of her experiences. 

“One of my favorite memories definitely has to be the day we went canoe surfing. The morning was a clear and beautiful one; we were taking in the view of the mountains, as we caught some thrilling waves as a team. In between waves, we could jump into the water, swim around the boat and laugh with each other.” 

She continued with, “It’s a huge blessing to experience that, especially in a high school sport, which is not very common. I’d say aside from that, I have so many great memories just being around my teammates because we always find a way to make each other laugh no matter the situation.”

Even though there were struggles and hardships, Trueba explained that if you make mistakes, you can always learn from them and grow. The paddling team this year experienced losses and struggled to go against bigger schools. Though, against the odds, pulled several underdog moments that were very unexpected and shocked everyone.  

“We developed eight girls from our team being able to race off of Ala Moana, placing third or even first. Being such a dedicated, hardworking and bonded team is what I am most proud of. We’ve proved that if you really value something, great things can come out of it. We all really value our team, and paddling as a sport, which gave us the ability to put in so much effort…in order to go far.”  

Another senior from the Academy, Rayanna Baniaga, is hoping to continue her basketball and hopefully, volleyball careers in the upcoming years. Baniaga has been playing volleyball for the past eight years. She shares that one of her favorite memories with her teammates was joking around and creating strong bonds to get through tough times.  Baniaga is striving to help her teammates become better players and people. 

Although she faced difficulties, Baniaga shares this advice, “As much as I wish I was taller or could pick skills up faster in this sport, I wouldn’t change a thing because all of the experiences I’ve had with this sport helped me become the person I am today, especially since volleyball was once my main sport because it would give me a chance to play sports at the collegiate level. I think the only advice that I could give to future seniors is that they should do their best to continue to excel at their sport and help others to do the same, also that the win isn’t always the most important thing, the journey, friends and experiences that the sport has given you are most important.”

Teammate and friend of Baniaga, Jolie Heresa, says “I would’ve changed my mindset and the way I thought about the game. Back then I would let the pressure and every single mistake get to me, and eventually, it got to the point where I couldn’t focus on anything but those mistakes and the fear of letting everyone down. In my junior year and now senior year, I don’t let the mistakes dwell and I try to ‘flush’ or forget about them.”

Heresa has been playing softball for the past nine years, especially thriving in the outfield. She stated, “One accomplishment would be playing on a TV last year against Damien Memorial School because it showed that the Academy could be competitive in softball. It was the first TV game we’d had in years. Another would be being recognized on the D2 All-Stars 1st Team as an outfielder last year. There wasn’t anything deep and meaningful to the recognition, it was more of a nice surprise. “

Heresa will not be continuing softball in the years ahead. Although she is leaving with fellow seniors Tatiana Lum, Rayanna Baniaga, and Vanessa Welch.

 She stated “Thinking back to my freshman and sophomore year, I would’ve changed my mindset and the way I thought about the game. Back then I would let the pressure and every single mistake get to me, and eventually, it got to the point where I couldn’t focus on anything but those mistakes and the fear of letting everyone down. In my junior year and now senior year, I don’t let the mistakes dwell and I try to “flush” or forget about them.”  This can help lead Heresa on throughout her entire life.