“I have three cats. Their names are Maggie, Morris and Henry, and then I have a dog named Blue, and two rabbits named Remy and Ru.”
Besides her side job as an unofficial zookeeper, Tess Murray’s main job is working as an afterschool mentor at Oak Hills Elementary School, something she considers a potential career. She works with students in kindergarten through second grade.
“You have to wangle them all,” Murray said. “I watch and play games with them like water bottle flips and coordinate activities. It’s really important to me. I can see myself becoming a future teacher, but I’m not exactly sure.”
To Murray, working with her students is not just a job, it’s a passion. Though balancing school and work can be difficult, she finds joy helping her students.
“It’s weird to work in high school when you’re trying to juggle student and outside life. But I was able to connect with all of my students really well,” Murray said.
As evidenced by her jobs, community is important to Murray, and so is her family.
“My family is really important to me,” Murray said. “They’re all really close. My grandma lives five minutes away, my cousins live five minutes away, and they are all in the same district [OPUSD].”
She doesn’t only love her family; they are her best friends.
“I’m very family-oriented and the majority of things that I do, [they’re] with my family. If I’m going to see a movie, it’s with my family. We’re always going on trips together. We’re very close now,” Murray said.
During her travels, she loves to listen to her favorite artists: Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahan and her absolute favorite, Taylor Swift.
“Every day it changes with Taylor Swift,” Murray said. “Right now, I love ‘Life of a Showgirl,’ but I’m also going back to ‘Tortured Poets Department.’”
While music has a major role in Murray’s life, so do books.
“I like to read for fun,” Murray said. “I don’t do it as much during the school year when I just don’t have time, but I listen to audiobooks in the car. My favorite book– I just read it in AP Lit– [is] a memoir called ‘Know My Name’ by Chanel Miller. It’s a really good book. Everyone should read it.”
For her senior year, Murray decided to challenge herself with a wide range of AP classes, including AP Economics, AP Literature and her favorite class, AP Environmental Science.
“Environmental science is my [main] interest because that’s what I’m going to major in college,” Murray said. “I’ve always been interested in climate change, and I’ve done a lot of projects in different classes related to the topic. I think it sounds cool to work with other people to help fix the environment because of everything that’s going on right now. It is really important for people to take action and to stand up for what they believe in.”
However, deciding to major in environmental science was not an easy process for her.
“I’ve always been unsure of what I want to do. I have never had that one thing, like how people always say, ‘I’m going to be a doctor or I’m going to be a lawyer.’ I have always been in between. I can see myself in a few different fields, but I have never really had a strong passion for one thing. At this point in my high school career, knowing what I want to do is really important to me,” Murray said.
Murray is grateful to be done with the stressful process of college applications. Now, she is excited for the next stage in her life.
“[College applications have been] very stressful because I want to make sure everything is perfect. You’re trying to figure out not only ‘how do I write?,’ but also ‘how do the colleges want to see me?’ Through all of the stress, I’ve found joy by living in the present. Everything feels rushed all the time, like there’s always somewhere next to be. But stopping for a moment and laughing with my friend about an inside joke or blasting my favorite song on the way home from school reminds me to stop for a moment and enjoy the little things.”
