COVID gave Kaelani Exton time for self-reflection and growth. “Previous years haven’t been so pretty for me, so coming into senior year, I was very optimistic,” she said.

She hadn’t been sitting on the on the sidelines during those first few years, however. “I’ve been involved in the Armijo Superband for all my years here,” she said. “It’s still a debate between people whether it’s a sport or not, but now it counts as PE credits since we went and spoke up about it at the district office.”

She also recently joined the Garden Club as president.

Exton said that she is going to miss all the school events when she graduates. “Games and band competitions always bring out school spirit, especially when we used to do the Spirit March down the halls… My favorite memory is when we had chants, and after the spirit March, we would do it while walking to the quad. Then everybody gathered up, and we did a chant that involved dancing, it was really fun,” said Exton.

Her positive attitude has been focused on graduating, but she is hoping to continue taking advantage of the opportunities offered in education. “I might go to Solano for two free years of general education. After that, if I’m given the opportunity, I’d like to go to a trade school for any major in music.”

The major seems appropriate as Exton is experienced in band and loves to sing. She also enjoys working in the garden, cooking and baking with ingredients she grows. “It turns whatever dish I decide to make into something homelike,” she said. She also enjoys playing video games.

As a senior who lost much of her high school experience to COVID, Exton had a lot to share with future students: “Don’t skip events, they bring so much school spirit and you can even go by yourself and enjoy!” she said. “Don’t skip any classes and do at least 70% of the work in each class. Skipping causes you to miss a LOT of information that you will need for the following day, and if you do more than half the work, you won’t fail.”

While she’s leaving the campus in June, her younger brother Aiden just started his journey, and younger brother Dominic is just a couple of years behind.

“If I could change one thing about Armijo, it would be the spirit. I feel like we lost a LOT of spirit because of the mascot change and quarantine. We just don’t have any more chants that revolve around our mascot, and we lost our sense of community,” Exton said. Hopefully, her brothers will see that change in the next couple of years.