There are thousands of kids that walk by each other every single day in the hallways of Fossil Ridge High School. Each one has a dream, a movie that always makes them cry, and a story behind the way they act at school. Audrey Ehrhart is a senior at Fossil. Recently, she turned eighteen and decided to move out of her parent’s house halfway through her last year of high school. This drastic change has altered her life in many ways, but she believes it’s for the better.
“I’ve never had a great family life. I turned eighteen and decided that what’s best for me is to leave and start my own life.” After growing up with a history of abuse and a variety of health issues, Ehrhart was eager for a new beginning. “I feel that because of my experience I am not like a lot of other high schoolers.”
Her situation requires a lot of commitment and maturity. Ehrhart has put in work and earned everything in her life. On average, she works twenty hours a week at Texas Roadhouse, where she has been for about a year. She has shifts everyday after school and doubles or triples on the weekend. “I work almost everyday during the school year and during the summer I work 3 jobs. I don’t have a lot of free time to hang out with friends like other high schoolers do,” said Ehrhart.
Ehrhart has found Fossil to be very accepting of her unique situation, saying, “I also have trouble getting homework done because I work so much. But thankfully most of my teachers have been very lenient with due dates because I have a different situation.” The last four years have given her a chance to grow and learn a lot more than what the basic high school curriculum allows. “Throughout my high school years I have developed immensely. I truly found who I am. It took a while to do so and I had to go through a lot of difficult times to find myself but once I had I knew that I was capable of more than what I had been through. That my past didn’t define me if I didn’t let it.”
Not all of Ehrhart’s high school experience has been out of the ordinary. She played for the Volleyball team both freshman and sophomore year, and absolutely loved it. It was a good way to kick off high school and get involved to meet new people. Unfortunately, she was unable to continue as an upperclassmen due to some of her health issues.
These days, Ehrhart spends her time playing guitar in coffee houses and volunteering with students who receive special education. She was involved with a program called integrated PE, which is a class that pairs one student with another who may have a mental or physical disability that prohibits them from participating in everyday PE classes. She was able to work individually with a student and give them both hands-on help and a friend to say hi to in the hallways. “I have been working with the special needs kids and absolutely adore it. Through working with these kids I found my true passion. I figured out I wanted to work with these kids for the rest of my life. Those kids have taught me so much. And I am so grateful for the experience I had with them.”
Her time helping these Fossil students has made her career choice very easy. She has been accepted to Colorado State University, and will major in psychology. This will be a major stepping stone in her life as she moves towards a future in helping students with special needs.
Walking from class to class, people are shown only milliseconds of each students existence, so how can you be expected to understand any of what they’re going through? It’s impossible. But that doesn’t mean people should be judging others on snippets of information they’ve picked up along the way. Students have to begin to take the time to really get to know their peers. Only then can Fossil truly function.
