When senior Paige Pope graduates from La Porte High School in June, she will leave behind a lasting legacy and a gaping void. Pope is involved in seemingly every organization that the school offers, and manages to keep up with everything without missing a beat. She accumulated roughly 90 hours of community service this past year.
“I don’t bite off more than I can chew,” she said. “I take on just enough so that I can commit myself fully to those things. I work first and then play after.”
That extreme focus will carry Pope on to Purdue University, where she will be in the Honors College and study mass communication. She has hopes of eventually working at National Geographic, but any job in news broadcasting or print journalism would be right up her ally.
Pope provides leadership and an attention to detail with her duties as La Porte Yearbook Editor. Her reach extends far beyond the journalistic realm as she holds the title of President for both Girl Reserves and the senior class in addition to serving as National Honor Society Vice President, French Club Vice President, a Student Council member, a member of Leadership La Porte County and an ambassador for Postponing Sexual Involvement. She also participates in Knowledge Masters, band club, the work ethic program and Junior Engineering Technical Society.
Just for good measure, Pope added one more activity to her plate when she joined the LaPorteCountyLife coverage team in December. The two have been a perfect match.
“LaPorteCountyLife contacted the yearbook adviser, Erin Parker, about people that would be interested, and she knew I plan to pursue a career in journalism,” she said. “I’ve loved the positive news take because so much of the time, the media reports on the negative things going on in society. I like the positive things, particularly with teens and children, the positive things that they’re doing. I love being able to photograph and write and be involved in the community.”
Pope fell in love with working on the school yearbook because it combined the writing aspect, the design aspect and the photography aspect on a high level. She became the co-editor of the book as a junior and continued to hold that position as a senior.
“I like the whole concept of telling stories and creating these memories that 40, 50, 60 years down the road, our students can take out their books and show them to their kids and grandkids,” Pope said. “I just like documenting what is going on in the moment for them to remember.”
Pope registers her hours of community service through the Salvation Army, food drives, local pancake breakfasts, visiting nursing homes, the La Porte Jaycee Foundation and the New Day Foundation. She elected to join Girl Reserves her freshman year, and since then she has strengthened her leadership role in the community.
“It’s been a really great experience because through it I have been able to meet people in the community,” Pope said. “It’s been a great core group of people that are my friends.”
Pope listed her role models as Tom Brokaw, who was a news correspondent during Watergate and the Berlin Wall, and both sets of her grandparents, who “work hard for what they have and don’t take anything for granted.”
The multifaceted, budding journalist is still coming to terms with the fact that her tenure at LPHS is beginning to wind down.
“I’m going to miss seeing people every day that I’ve known for a long time,” Pope said. “Just being able to be with those people and talk and catch up with them. I’ve known these people for so long and we’re all going off to different parts of our lives. I’m going to miss those friendships that I’ve had.”