In her junior year, Hope Dobyns transferred from Helena Christian School to Jefferson High. She had attended Helena Christian since third grade, which made the transfer difficult.“It was very familiar to me and it was very easy to be there,” Dobyns said. “I was very comfortable.” She also says she had a hard time leaving behind her friends and classmates she had known for so long.
Dobyns noticed a few key differences between Helena Christian and Jefferson High right away. One was the size: “Jefferson is a lot bigger, but when me and my sister, Faith, toured the school, it felt very open and welcoming to us right away.”
Jefferson High, she found, also put a bigger emphasis than Helena Christian on social life. “A lot of the time in high school, we forget it’s not all about academics and it’s not all about social life. It’s a mixture of the two and it is important to stay balanced.”
Dobyns has navigated that balance. She joined the varsity volleyball team and excelled in art and writing, something she, “didn’t ever think [I] was good at before.” Dobyns also wrote and directed a section of a school play called “Days You Can Use” with her friend, Rebecca Nelson, which she said was one of her biggest accomplishments since the transfer.
Dobyns plans to attend Grand Canyon University and has considered majoring in global communications or something to do with journalism. She says, “I’m not sure yet where I will go from there, but I am open to traveling and finding new places to explore my creativity! I have appreciated my time at Jefferson High School — meeting so many new people and becoming the person I am today.”
