Kaitlyn Corrick: An Unlikely Friendship

By Kendall Howze     
     
     Between graduation and receiving college acceptance letters, Senior year can be exciting for every Senior. While the 12th grade experience can be pretty consistent among every student, Senior Kaitlyn Corrick is having a rather interesting year, as she has recently started living with a German exchange student and a Junior at Glenelg, Franzi Steinherr. Corrick and Steinherr bonded over their passion for and involvement in theater. Though they are both in the same theater class, the two didn’t become close until they began rehearsing for Glenelg’s spring production, Seussical. On recalling when they first became close, Corrick said, “We were in Seussical together-- that's how we became friends-- and then I invited her to the youth group night [at my church].”

     If you saw Corrick and Steinherr together, you’d think they’d known each other their whole lives rather than a couple of months. It is surprising how great friends they are. Corrick does not know how they grew so close, saying, “We've really only been friends for three months and I'm closer with her than most of my other friends. Also we saw each other every day for two weeks straight for the last two months.” On April 4th, Corrick’s parents were gracious enough to become Steinherr’s new host parents so that Steinherr could spend the rest of her school year living with Corrick. Naturally, the two of them adore living together. Many people dream about living with their best friend, but, for Corrick and Steinherr, it actually happened. Corrick is actually “really surprised with how well [they] all fit in together. It always felt so natural.” Steinherr is a nice addition to the Corrick family, getting along with not only Corrick, but her parents.

     When Steinherr returns home, obviously the two will keep in touch. Corrick, who has already been out of the country visiting the Caribbean and going on a mission trip in Africa, will be visiting Steinherr in Germany this summer. As far as her studies go, she would consider studying abroad if she could study in Germany. Meanwhile back in the U.S., Corrick hopes to spend the next four years studying at Liberty University, where she has already been accepted, majoring in psychology for behavioral therapy. She views Ms. Robinson, the Special Education teacher, as a mentor and hopes to do something in Ms. Robinson’s related field of work.

     As great as it is that Corrick knows what she wants to do in the future, she is making quite an impression on her peers now. Sophomore Kailey Heltzel, a classmate and friend of Corrick’s, describes her as “outgoing, pretty, [and] a good person.” She has made a lot of good friends in theater throughout the years, Heltzel included. Corrick, however, describes herself as mature, organized, smart, and would like to share that “one time on a youth retreat [she] ate 15 cupcakes in two days.” What an important quality to have: the ability to eat cupcakes in bulk in a short amount of time. (In case you were wondering, they were salted caramel flavored, and evidently, they were delicious.) Over the years, Corrick has come to appreciate a lot of things at Glenelg that she will miss. She specifically points out how much she will miss theater, as well as the memes of Mr. Cabotaje that are shown in his class. For her parting words, the last thing Corrick would like to say to Glenelg high schoolers is, “Dear high school boys, gym class is not the olympics.”