Crystal River Middle School

An active FCA leader, Youth Pastor Jordan from, Eden Baptist church of Brooksville FL, travels every Wednesday to CHS to lead in the fellowship. Jordan’s participation in FCA has inspired the program to migrate to Hernando High School as well! “The main purpose is to involve any Christians not just Christian athletes,” says Jordan. With this club you can feel safe knowing that there are people around you going through the same things and are able to overcome struggles through the outreach.”

The before-school FCA program is giving students the opportunity to learn about the word of God when getting to church on weekends isn’t always an option. Senior Ashley Trochez says, “FCA is a faith related club which allows students to serve themselves and the community. This club helps students know they are not alone, and everyone is here together to help you feel safe and welcomed.” 

Captions: Soper created this self-portrait as an assignment for LSA (Photo: Soper).

Soper has been practicing art since she was a young child and her years of practice have paid off.

“I have been doing art since I could properly hold a pencil. I remember seriously pursuing art and design in the sixth grade when I won an award for best in show in our school’s art show,” said Soper.

Soper’s talents in art are not limited to pencil drawing. She practices 2D art, 3D art, and enjoys working with paper mâché as well as experiential temporary art.

“My favorite art piece that I have ever made was a performance piece called ‘Take over,’ where I sculpted a paper mâché head of a smiley face, wore it around downtown, and then videotaped myself destroying it. ‘Take Over’ is my favorite piece because it helped me realize that everything in my life is temporary, my art, my emotions, everything can easily be changed or altered,” said Soper. 

Everyone faces different challenges along their journey as they work towards their dreams.

“A big challenge I’ve faced is developing a personal style. I’ve always drawn in multiple art styles so drawing in a consistent style has always been a struggle for me,” said Soper.

This school year, she has an incredible opportunity to be able to paint a mural for our school’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps [ROTC].

“I am doing this mural solely because of how many of my peers are in that program. My grandfather and some of my friends were in the Army, so it only felt right to give back to a program that has helped so many people I care about,” said Soper.

There are different ways to develop ideas for art; some come from the heart, inspiration or even the materials you have to work with. 

“I started by taking their crest and working my design around that, then deciding on doing their Raiders’ shirt logo to commemorate the Raiders program. All my friends who are in ROTC helped give me this idea of the Panther holding the flames in its mouth with scratches behind it,” said Soper.