Elise Tadros, senior, has always been a leader. Involved in class office all four years, she is now senior class vice president. Her résumé lists quite a few extracurriculars such as Astronomy Club, Circle of Friends, National Honor Society and two water polo teams, KHS and club. Past endeavors include volleyball, field hockey and cross country.
Tadros describes her initial ideal freshman vision as pretty typical.
“I wanted leadership and for people to look up to me, but I also wanted to help people and make them laugh and smile,” Tadros said. “I wanted a solid group of friends, but then, who doesn’t?”
After being cut from volleyball her sophomore year, Tadros tried out for and made the field hockey team. It was not until later that year Tadros recognized it had been a blessing in disguise.
“I got to meet so many great girls and try something totally new,” Tadros said. “It was my first big rejection, and it was hard, but the best learning experience.”
Describing herself as spontaneous, Tadros decided to give cross country a try her junior year before finally settling on water polo.
Although getting involved at KHS right away helped Tadros start on the path to where she is today, she feels her friends have truly shaped who she has become.
“The minute I found a good group of friends, I knew that people who put me down and are negative just don’t matter. I’ve found my set group of friends that are my sisters,” Tadros said.
Tadros also recognizes the difference between the people who she was drawn to her freshman year and who she is closest with now.
“At first, it was all about people who gave and got attention; bad boys who gave attention, girls who drew drama in toward them for attention,” Tadros said. “Then around the end of sophomore or beginning of junior year, you realize just how much drama can happen in high school. It’s all very day-to-day, like, ‘He did this’ or ‘She said that.’ You just want to drop it all. You realize that it’s time to grow up.”
After three years of high school, Tadros has figured out the key to being happy and comfortable with herself.
“I surround myself with people who make me happy; people who steer me in the right direction, who not only want me to have fun but want me to succeed too,” Tadros said.
As for success, Tadros has worked hard for years to achieve the goals she set for herself.
“I definitely have higher expectations for myself now that I know I can manage a workload, a leadership role, a sport, my family, heck sometimes even a boyfriend,” Tadros said.
One of the most important factors in her success has been utilizing the support system she found at KHS.
“This is my family now.”
