It’s hard enough moving to a whole new town and having to adjust to a new school, as well as make new friends, but moving to a new town in another state is so much worse. However, senior Garrett McAlpine says moving here five years ago is one of the best things that has ever happened to him.

“The move from Kansas to Texas, I would say was life changing,” McAlpine said. “I’m glad that I moved here because before I moved, I didn’t have very many friends. Moving to Texas was a bit of a lifesaver, because I was able to start over.”

Since moving here in seventh grade, McAlpine has been involved in numerous extracurricular activities. This year he is involved in game club, color guard and UIL.

“I’ve been involved in track, cross country, the GUILD, theatre, UIL and color guard,” McAlpine said. “I did both track and cross country for two years, and I just wrapped up my third and final year of color guard. I think the one thing I’m going to miss most when I graduate is color guard.”

Being involved in these activities and his spontaneous and kind personality has allowed McAlpine to make many friends.

“I’ve been friends with Garrett since he moved here,” senior Sean Haycock said. “We’ve always had a lot of classes together and we always hang out. He works extremely hard and gets stressed out easily, but he’s always there and that’s probably why he is such an amazing friend.”

Despite whatever might be going on in his personal life, Garrett tries to always make sure his friends are happy, and if they aren’t he tries to cheer them up.

“My favorite thing about Garrett is his ability of making people happy,” senior Tyler Clinton said. “If someone around him is upset, it doesn’t matter their race, gender, or religion, he is still going to try to cheer them up. He is just an all around good person.”

Many of Garrett’s friends and classmates describe him as being a nerd or a hardworking individual who doesn’t give up. They say that he always takes the initiative to do better.

“Garrett is the literal definition of a nerd,” senior Sonia Dominguez said. “He loves the game Magic the Gathering as well as Dungeons and Dragons. My favorite thing about him would have to be is competitive attitude about games or anything for that matter. He always wants to do his best and he is never truly satisfied with his work.”

With graduation right around the corner, Garrett’s younger friends have thing think about him leaving.

“I’ve known Garrett for three years and we became friends because of our similar personalities,” junior Dustin Golemon said. “When Garrett graduates things will be different in the sense that I won’t see him around school everyday, but I have every intention of keeping him around. We are going to stay close by hanging out periodically and continuing to talk.”

After graduation, Garrett plans on attending Navarro College. After that he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do.

“After graduation, I plan to go to Navarro for my general studies and from there I have no idea what I want to do,” McAlpine said. “I’m not sure where I want my life to go but I think from there I can move it in a good direction, kind of like what I did when I moved here.”