Jack Lamy transferred from Fairview High School at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year and immediately wasted no time working to find his place. And while there were challenges, and still are, he has done his best to overcome them.
“I definitely know a lot less people. I mean, I did come in knowing a few people, but I did go into most of my classes where I didn’t know anyone, and I had to meet a bunch of different people” Lamy shares. He tends to look on the positive side, though, sharing, “Coming in sophomore year instead of freshman year, I already knew what it was going to be like.”
A big reason Jack was able to find his place was due to participation in clubs, or as he describes it, “finding which group I flow into the most.”
He further points to the importance of finding an activity that is enjoyable, adding “It definitely helped increase school spirit first of all. Being on the tennis team, you naturally root for your own school in a lot of different things, and having the after school sport was just a lot of fun. It helped me grow in the school and be more happy going here.”
William Douglass, a freshmen, provides another perspective on meeting people, sharing “A large portion of students from my middle school chose to go to Arvada West, which has helped a bit, but meeting new people in classes and in the halls (and especially Student Council and House for theater) has helped build my social skills.”
Unlike Douglass, Jack was at the disadvantage of transferring from a school in Boulder; however, he did have another thing going for him: his two sisters, Charlie and Emmy, had both previously graduated from A-West. This greatly impacted him, as he states “I feel like I had a little bit of an advantage going in because they gave me their personal recommendations on teachers and how I should approach them and what they liked.”
He continues, “It was a little bit nice to not go in blind, like I would have if I did not have them.”
Elaborating on family, Lamy shares, “The importance of family, it’s a lot of things. You need them to be supportive, you need them to help out a lot more.”
Furthermore, “I’ve been trying to reach some academic goals and some personal ones as well, and I find that them being there and being able to help me with that is a much bigger benefit than them being a little bit more out of what I’m doing,” Lamy says.
In terms of the academic goals Lamy has set for himself, “the biggest thing is just putting in that effort and the desire to get those assignments finished.” He explains that, “It’s something that I’ve struggled with for a long time is the desire to get work done instead of going and playing games or something, but I feel like I’ve made some big progress around that.”
Despite everything on his busy schedule, Lamy always makes sure he has time for himself. This is mainly because, “I plan ahead and see all that I need to do and how much of my time that’s going to take, because if I can create a schedule and then I can try my best to fit in some time for myself and I can get all my school work done and still do things that I enjoy” he shares.
The work Lamy has done to grow as a person is evident, with Arvada West tennis coach Jazzy Gillette sharing how she has “seen Jack grow tremendously from the start of the season until now.”
Gillette elaborates that, “Being a new transfer student is hard and uncomfortable for anyone, but Jack wanted to try out for the team and went all in with improving his tennis skills. He started on the team not knowing a lot of his team mates but over time he grew as an individual and made new friends.”
Reflecting on his freshmen year and beyond, Lamy takes one key point away: “Teachers are your best friends, or just your normal friends, or you guys are enemies. But really you want them to be your best friends.” He explains, “If you’re on good terms they’re more likely to excuse an absence, not make a late assignment late in the gradebook, give you full credit, round up your grade a little bit (etc).”
On the flip side, “If you are quote unquote a ‘bad student,’ you don’t do your work, you’re rude to your teachers (etc), they’re less likely to help you with those things. You could be a minute late, and they’ll mark you tardy, but if you were on good terms with that teacher, they might be like ‘that’s alright, I understand’ and clear you. Those kinds of good things, be on the teachers’ good terms” he states.
Looking ahead, Lamy shares, “I am definitely looking forward to playing more sports during the offseason or next year; joining the tennis team again would be awesome.”
The goals he has set for next year aside, Lamy looks to the growth he has made as a person, sharing, “one of the biggest things was my academic problems. I definitely struggled mentally around the topic of school, but now I feel I’ve grown a little bit more on it and definitely improved in a lot of areas.”
He concludes that, “I’m really hoping that I have a pretty normal desire or work ethic, especially once I graduate and after.”
