Laura Ironman’s Fast-Paced Life
Laura Ironman knows what she wants and she’s willing to work hard to achieve it. The Huntington High School senior plans to attend college to prepare for a career as a speech-language pathologist. She’s closing out a four-year run that has provided her with some incredible good times.
“My years at the high school have been the best of my life,” Ms. Ironman said. “I have had wonderful teachers and life-changing experiences.” The teenager is closely associated with the Blue Devil marching band, serving as a drum major for the past two years. The band’s third place finish in its division in the state championships this fall was one of the “proudest moments” of Ms. Ironman’s life.
“I can remember tearing up at the final notes of our performance, knowing we had done so well and worked so hard,” Ms. Ironman said about that special moment in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
The Huntington senior “loved” working with Blue Devil marching band co-directors Brian Stellato and Jason Giachetti, “even though I’m pretty sure they got sick of me, along with the other drum majors,” Ms. Ironman joked.
Together with fellow drum majors Jonathan Wood and Brian J. McConnell and field major Francesca Gray, Ms. Ironman helped provide the Blue Devil band with experienced leadership.
“There was never a dull moment, especially at the Drum Major Academy, to which a bunch of student leaders got to go to up at UMASS-Amherst to learn how to be a great leader and teacher to our bands,” Ms. Ironman said.
Upon meeting the teenager for the first time, it doesn’t take long to realize Ms. Ironman has a fabulous sense of humor and a real camaraderie with her friends. “Our school table at mealtimes was hilarious,” she said. “There was never a moment someone wasn’t laughing.” But, all joking aside, the senior is a serious student who is well-respected by her classmates and teachers.
“I do so much that it’s hard to keep up with my schedule,” Ms. Ironman said. In addition to her responsibilities with the marching band, she is also heavily involved with the school’s drama club and a host of other clubs and groups.
“I love goofing off at rehearsal with Mr. Schwendemann and the rest of the cast,” Ms. Ironman said about Michael Schwendemann, the drama club’s faculty advisor and an English teacher at the school. “I’m told that I’m the ‘mother’ in both drama club and marching band,” the teenager said. “I take it as a compliment that people trust coming to me when they have problems, and I’m going to miss all my ‘children’ when I go off to college.”
This looks to be a busy year for Ms. Ironman. She is a participating member of the National Honor Society, Habitat for Humanity and Key club, historian of the English Honor Society and next spring’s Relay For Life raffles chairperson.
Ms. Ironman volunteers outside of school, too, as well as tutoring fellow Huntington High School students and babysitting in the community. The frequently hectic schedule she keeps and the fast-paced life she leads suits Ms. Ironman just fine. “I love being busy because it leaves very little time to procrastinate,” she said.
The youngest of three children, Ms. Ironman’s two sisters are both Huntington High School graduates and one of them, Jessica Ironman, is a speech-language pathologist.
The teenager traveled to Peru last winter with a group of 35 other high school students and six adult chaperones. “I love adventures and Peru was just that,” Ms. Ironman said. “It was amazing going to an alpaca farm, hiking to the top of a mountain and feeding monkeys bananas. I wouldn’t have dreamed of such adventure elsewhere.”
One of the senior’s favorite activities outside of school is helping her friends from photography class by modeling for their photo shoots. “I love expressing myself in a way that’s not the norm,” Ms. Ironman said. “I love dressing up and performing or modeling for pictures, and just showing what’s on the inside as well as the outside. Molly Prep and Kerri-Ann Giambruno have made me look outstanding in the past. I love goofing around and taking pictures with them.”
Like most of her classmates, Ms. Ironman is playing a waiting game. “I am super excited waiting for my responses to my applied colleges,” she said. “High school has been a blast for me and I have an indescribable hope for the future. I’m so excited for college, even if it means leaving the wonderful people of Huntington. I know I will have even bigger adventures to come!”