Senior year has been an exciting experience for 17-year-old Madison Honaker as she prepares for graduation and all the fun end-of-high school rites of passage like prom, senior sunset, and walking onto the football field in front of friends and family. Academically, it has been the easiest year, and she has made stronger bonds with both old and new friends, finding a group that she hopes will last her a lifetime.  Madison appreciates the good and bad relationships she’s made at Sahuaro because it brought her to where she is now.

Even though Madison had fun in high school, she was expecting way more with the way high school was hyped up by her older brother. “I’m very excited to graduate solely because of what my future is going to hold and that’s more exciting,” she said. During high school, Madison valued staying on top of academics while gaining friendships.

After high school, Madison plans to major in psychology at the University of Arizona and receive her Ph.D.. Psychology is a topic Madison has been set on since freshman year and she hopes to pursue a career as a therapist based in Arizona. She loves giving people advice and helping others through the hard times. Madison’s close friends describe her as calm and peaceful, and they believe she will be a perfect therapist.

While wanting to pursue a career as a therapist, she has found her therapy through literature. During high school, Madison has grown to love English. “That’s been my favorite class through my four years,” she explained. This year she signed up for AP Literature with Ms. Tuli. She said, “I decided to challenge myself because I’ve grown with literature and really appreciate it.” AP Literature has caused her love for English and reading to grow even more and she has decided she will pursue it as a hobby and take some classes about the subject in college.

Madison Honaker is a student with many goals and aspirations, and she can’t wait to make them happen. She believes the best part of her life is yet to come and it only gets better from here. It is good to find good role models in high school to help us find our path, and I believe the class of 2024 would agree she is one of the best role models at Sahuaro to help us meet our goals while keeping family and friends close.