HHS Senior Emily Kata's Life
is a Whirlwind
Emily Kata's life is a whirlwind, especially during these final weeks before the Huntington High School senior graduates with fellow members of the Class of 2013.
The teenager spent her earliest years in the district at Flower Hill School, but that seems like so long ago. These days, 24 hours isn't enough time for Ms. Kata to get everything done. Between her academic courses, club activities, sports, friends and family, this is one busy senior.
The senior is headed to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut in the fall. She intends to study in the college's school of nursing. There's also a possibility that Ms. Kata will be playing on Quinnipiac's women's golf team. "I am so excited to go to QU this fall," she said. "It has been the school I wanted to attend all throughout my high school career. It's the perfect size, location and program."
Ms. Kata has been extremely active with Huntington's Habitat for Humanity chapter, traveling to Mobile, Alabama during a February vacation week last year to help rebuild an area devastated by a series of tornadoes and storms and trekking to Breezy Point, Queens on many weekends this year to help clean-up a community nearly completely wiped out by Hurricane Sandy.
The senior has been a Key club member for the past four years, participating in the annual Sears shopping initiative with underprivileged children, among other projects. Ms. Kata has also belonged to the Grandfriends club, going to nursing homes to sing carols during the holidays and helping out at the annual senior, senior prom at Huntington High School, which this year was attended by 191 senior citizens.
Ms. Kata has also belonged to AWOD (A World of Difference), volunteering at local soup kitchens during the cold winter months. She's been a junior volunteer at Huntington Hospital for the past two years and played high school field hockey for four years.
As the Blue Devil varsity softball team made its move this spring, ultimately clinching a spot in the Section XI playoffs, Ms. Kata was smack in the middle of the action. She has played in the high school program since the eighth grade and has been on the varsity roster in each of the past four seasons.
Among Ms. Kata's senior year courses are physics, pre-calculus, Spanish 5, Bible as Literature and Humanities, plus several others. "I have also been able to have a career internship with Kelly Hatzmann, the Huntington athletic trainer and also one at Huntington Hospital," the teenager said. "At the hospital, I shadow a nurse on different units each time and I really get to see what it's truly like to be a nurse. I have learned so much from the career internship program and I really recommend it. It really made me positive that nursing is definitely the field I want to be in."
When it comes to listing her favorite courses, Ms. Kata points to Bible as Literature and Humanities, "a course that I took this year with Mrs. Kelly Krycinski," the senior said. "I really learned so much and Mrs. Krycinski is an amazing teacher. Some of my other favorite teachers include Mrs. Eliana Oranges and so many more. All my teachers during the past four years have been amazing and I am so glad I got to be their student."
Ms. Kata's most memorable experiences in the district include the trip to Mobile, Alabama with fellow Habitat for Humanity members and the many builds she participated in during treks to Breezy Point, Queens. "Relay For Life has also been an extremely memorable experience," she said. "Lastly, this year the softball team made playoffs for the first time in many years and it was so memorable because I have been part of this program for five years now. Working so hard every day and on holidays; putting so much work into it and we finally made it. Even though we didn't win in the end, the experience of just making the playoffs was awesome."
As the Class of 2013 prepares to depart and make way for the incoming Class of 2017, Ms. Kata offered some salient thoughts for next year's freshmen to ponder. "My advice is the more involved you are in Huntington, the more you will get out of your high school experience and the better time you will have," she said. "Getting involved will help you to become a more well-rounded person, which will definitely help you later in life. Do as much as you can and get involved!"