When COVID first hit, online schooling was nothing new for senior, Michael Hatten. With the exception of his 7th and 8th-grade years when he first attended Tucson Country Day, Michael spent most of his academic time at K12, an online charter school, so he spent the majority of his time at home. Michael is extremely close to his parents. He and his dad love having deep discussions about the bible and attend church every Sunday as a family. He is also very in tune with his friends. When he’s feeling down about something, he makes sure to communicate with them so that they understand when he needs space and is not just ignoring them.

Michael had to do his freshman year online because of the pandemic outbreak. “It wasn’t that bad, there was just a lot of stuff that went on outside of school with people that just made it feel terrible.” Michael is a very non-drama, non-confrontational person, who also did not have much experience attending school with so many peers. He is a charismatic guy with a very mellow personality.

However, being online wasn’t the best for Michael, “I missed talking to my friends face-to-face. I prefer that more than over the phone. Being online did make the workload a lot easier though. It was easier to look stuff up when I didn’t understand it. I’m not a big fan of asking for help from my teachers, I try to figure it out as much as I can by myself.” Michael stated that it’s a small insecurity because it’s hurt him more than it’s helped him in the past.

“Sophomore year we went back in person fully. My sophomore year had a lot more ups and downs than freshman year, I met a lot of new people. ”

Michael has played sports throughout all of high school, sticking with golf and tennis, although he favors golf more. When COVID hit, it made the sports work weird, but since his sports of choice aren’t close-contact sports, he was still able to play throughout the pandemic. “Every day you’d have to get your temperature checked and you’d have to fill out a COVID form daily. It was very annoying to do, but if you didn’t do it, you couldn’t play or practice.”

“Golf is my main sport. I chose to play tennis because I look up to my grandfather.  He was the tennis state champion in 1969 I want to say, but I could be wrong. I look up to him a lot so I wanted to do something he’s done before. I’m close with my grandfather, I have this silver bracelet that he gave me from when he served in Vietnam.”

His coach for both sports, Coach Lawwill says, “Michael is an exemplary leader as he is always willing to do whatever the team asks of him. He has been a pleasure to work with over the past 4 years, and I enjoy him, and his sense of humor away from competition.”

“My Junior year holds a lot of memories, that’s the group I stuck with. The toughest part of my junior year would have been losing my close friend, Adam Boehme. I knew him through a few of my other friends. He was a senior when I met him, it was tragic when I heard.”

Watching Michael’s eyes get glossy was heartbreaking, seeing firsthand all the memories flash into his head, but he continues to smile and live for those who aren’t here anymore. Sophomore year he befriended Ben Robinson in tennis, Ben passed away this past December. A quote that he lives by is, “Celebrating a life well-lived and living for them has more of an impact than mourning a loss and letting it hold you back.”  Michael says, “I’m not someone who mourns typically. To me, Adam and Ben are still around me and I live in the moment for them. Adam was a good athlete, he was fun to be around, and a good person.  It sucks that we lost him when we did. The memorial games for him are always a bit hard for me to be at, but I remind myself I’m there for him.

I wasn’t as close with Ben as I was with Adam. He was a really good guy, there were some times where he’d make fun of me and I’d feel like he wasn’t joking, but I knew he was. He’d always be talking about motorcycles and the gym at practice.”

Michael is currently talking to different people to get a TEP lineman apprenticeship once he graduates. He wanted to do pro golf at one point but he says dreams change and even if he doesn’t do pro golf, he’ll definitely be one of the old guys at the golf resorts over the weekends.