By: Kate Franzen

Senior Kinsey Martindale had no idea what was awaiting her that first day at school. But four years later, she is grateful for the experience and opportunities she has gotten from being a part of the Lincoln community.

Martindale plans to attend college.

“I’m not sure where, ideally somewhere in China or Taiwan because they are Mandarin-speaking countries,” she explains.

Martindale has many passions, including learning languages, specifically Chinese, and she loves to travel.

“Lincoln has helped me pursue it [learning Chinese and getting a better understanding of the culture] because they have Chinese here and… and because I went to China with my Chinese class. I stayed with a host family,” she says.

Martindale complains of being a teenager in today’s society.

“Elders think school was fun. They didn’t experience the stresses of today’s high school.” For Matindale, the hardest part of being a teen is her elders not understanding that it’s different for her than it was for them. She feels that social media and pressure to get good grades has a negative impact on many students. “It’s a different time for us,” she says.

Martindale wants to help this year’s freshmen have an easier time in high school than she did and is a peer mentor for Mrs. Klein-Wolf’s 7th-period FLI class. She says that she was offered that class and took it as an opportunity to do her best to better the Lincoln community.

“Coming into this class, I wanted to be a mentor, but also be a friend…” says Martindale. “I wanted to be that central person.”

When recalling the way freshman were treated when she was a freshman, “it was horrible!” she says.

Martindale has advice to her freshman self.

“I wish I knew that even if people don’t accept you, it’s ok. It’s ok to be the person that you want to be and to make decisions for yourself. It’s easier to be who you want to be, how you want to be, express yourself how you want to express yourself. I didn’t get that until junior year,” she says.

Her advice to younger students is simple and straightforward.

“Take every opportunity that comes to you,” she says.

Martindale says she’s grateful for her years at Lincoln and believes that she got a lot out of it.

“It’s made me a little more open,” she says.