Walking into Instructor Chris Norton’s fourth hour AP Lang class, Jr. Mia Starkenburg spots her next singing Valentine target. 

   On the count of three, Starkenburg and the other members of her choir start singing.

   But every time she asks me, ‘Do I look okay?’ I say… when I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change ‘Cause you’re amazing just the way you are.

   What a beautiful act of affection for Valentine’s Day. 

   As a human being, it is natural to crave affection and to be able to love. Love can be found all around, hiding in places that differentiate from standard relationships. 

Built-in best friends:

   The Pedersen family is one most West Ottawa teachers are familiar with. The four siblings-Drew, Blake, Grace, and Brooke-all are West Ottawa students (past or present) with high success both athletically and academically. 

   The Pedersen kids share similar interests, each playing multiple varsity level sports, pursuing difficult classes, and being involved in their school, all while balancing a healthy social life. 

   “All of us are pretty close in age so growing up we did everything together. My sister and I especially are super close and she is like my best friend. I tell her everything and it’s always just been so nice to have a built-in person I can talk to about everything. Even with my brothers, it’s nice to have a close relationship with someone older than me who can give me advice and be a positive role model,” said Brooke Pedersen.

   “The best thing about having close relationships with your siblings is that you have another group of people who will always be there for you and understand you in different ways than what a relationship can give you.”

Nothing but net:

   Sometimes love isn’t a person, but an activity one dedicates time and energy to. For Jr. Danny Siterlet, this is basketball. 

   From the court to his driveway, Siterlet is always getting shots up.

   “I’ve been playing basketball for close to twelve years, and I try to play every single day… I play basketball for the school and for a travel team so I’m really doing it 24/7,” he said.

   “Basketball has helped me to love myself and to feel comfortable alone. It’s created many friendships and taught me many lessons to help shape me into the person I am today.”

   Sports in general help students grow in the development of mental health and physical fitness of the body. By participating, one can gain various skills, experience, and confidence – all important factors in developing a sense of self.

   For Siterlet, the court provides a sense of belonging and an escape from real-world stressors. Working to achieve goals is self fulfilling, and when life gets rough, it’s important to stay close to what we love. 

   “I continue to play basketball through times of questioning because of my grandparents. They love the game and I want them to be able to watch me as long as they can.”

    As Siterlet said, “It’s [an] escape from stress and worries… it helps me relax and keep my head positive.” 

Furry friends:

   Starting in order to get volunteer hours, Jr. Christine Durfee has become a recurrent visitor of the Harbor Humane Society. But the more time she spent there, the more furry friends she made. 

   “I love animals. I like being able to take care of them and help them be happy,” Dufee said.

   “Each day when I volunteered, I would do my typical jobs like feeding the animals, cleaning, and doing laundry, but sometimes there wasn’t always a lot to be done and that would give me time to play with them. I just find a lot of joy in animals because they’re always happy and can bring your mood up just from a wag of the tail or rubbing against your feet.”

   There was a specific cat named Penicillin, a seven year old tabby, that Durfee really grew towards. As adopters were drawn to the kittens, Durfee put her love in the cat that everyone else ignored. She made sure he was cared for and got the same attention as everyone else until the cat eventually found his forever home. 

Heartstrings and guitar strings:

   Jr. Victoria DeLeon found her passion when she was just eight years old–the age she first started singing. Realizing her love for music, she learned how to play piano and guitar a few years later. 

   “When I was younger, my dad was in this Christian rock band and my grandpa was in a 50s-60s band so everyone in my family is connected to music in some way. Because I was surrounded by music while growing up, it’s something that is recurrently present in my life,”  she said.

    Deleon is a part of West Ottawa Select Women’s Ensemble, a highly successful high school choir in our community. This gives her the opportunity to sing and immerse herself in music every day.

    Even outside of school, DeLeon can be found playing or practicing at home almost daily, working her way to eventually be able to achieve a career in music. 

   “Music gives me peace, and in a lot of situations that I face, it’s what I turn to. It’s a coping mechanism and just something that I truly enjoy. While school can confuse me, music is something that I truly understand,” DeLeon said.

   “I feel like music was something that I was created to do and that’s why it’s so important to me. It’s something that has been in my lineage forever and something that I can truly be proud of.”

The three Musketeers:

Nominated for the “three Musketeers” category for Senior Superlatives, Ben Monger, Owen Foster, and Connor Wooley can always be found together both in school and not.

   The iconic trio met during middle school cross country, and at the time, didn’t really know each other. The next year, they grew close being the three captains of the eighth grade team.

   Growing together for the next four years, they each found their own paths, Monger heading to Northwood University to run track, Foster registering at UW Lacrosse to wrestle, and Wooley pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a Michigan Wolverine. 

   “The two of them are some of the best positive influences in my life. They’re pretty good people that I know I can talk to about pretty much anything and I can trust them,” said Foster. “There really isn’t a time when we’re not making each other laugh.” 

   “There are times when I want to hit them with a metal pipe, but the majority of the time I love them with my whole heart,” Monger said.

A perfect fit:

    Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Many teachers at West Ottawa High School could never imagine a job other than teaching. For Instructor Lindsay Walcott, passion for broadcasting news is a love like no other. 

   “This is my 20th year teaching high school and I’ve been teaching broadcasting at West Ottawa for 18 of those years,” she said.

   “When the broadcasting job at West Ottawa opened up, I jumped at it because I really, really loved everything about video production and television news, so I knew this job was a perfect fit for me.”

   Teaching students how to provide the school with videos that are filmed, edited, and equipped with relevant and timely news is a major part of Walcott’s job. Students are also taught how to edit videos in an appealing way and to work with hands on computer software.

   “We have a good time and the subject has a really unique way of equipping people with very important life skills to serve them wherever they go in the future, even if they don’t want to pursue broadcasting, which is all a teacher can ask for.”

Love that never fades:

   The focus of this article is to provide ways one can find love through alternatives besides teenage relationships; to make readers feel less alone, and to help them find more true love in their lives. As we reach the end, however, I want to highlight that there is a difference between teenage relationships and real, long-lasting devotion. 

   West Ottawa grandparents Richard and Susan Young have been married for 56 years.

   “We’ve known each other our entire lives. We belonged to the same church, we went to the same school, and Susan was in the same graduating class as my brother. The Lord was instrumental with many changes in both our lives and it all just happened in making sure we got married,” Richard said. 

   Real, genuine love is difficult to find these days. Typical relationships last less than a year, marriages end up in divorce, and social media shows nothing but fake love.

   “There’s a lot of things I love about Richard, and they all help grow our relationship and keep us devoted to each other. Sharing our joys and sorrows as well as sharing our faith in God and growing together through Christ who strengthens us,” Susan said.