Senior Chloe Fitzgibbon is taking on big responsibilities this year as LSE’s varsity volleyball captain, the Clarion’s Co-Editor-in-Chief, and a supervisor in the dining section at Legacy Retirement Home. As Fitzgibbon has fallen into these positions of leadership, she’s gotten the opportunity to redefine what she believes a leader is.

“Just becoming a senior, I felt myself naturally shifting into leadership positions, which I never thought I would be a good leader,” Fitzgibbon said.

In the past, Fitzgibbon was afraid to become a leader because she’d had bad experiences with previous leaders bossing people around and being disrespectful. However, she has been able to overcome those stereotypes of a leader and instead become a leader that is cherished by those around them.

“I really believe in leading by example,” Fitzgibbon said, “I just don’t think the best way is always chastising people and yelling at them.”

Fitzgibbon shows great effort in everything she does, but she’s decided to find a balance between success and happiness. During the spring semester of last year, her daily schedule was packed with eight class periods, track practices, club volleyball practices, and stacks of homework. 

“It was just a terrible schedule. My mental health was terrible,” she said.

This year is a fresh start for Fitzgibbon as she aims to focus on making connections with the people around her and helping the Clarion to succeed. Through her time as part of the Clarion staff, she has gained an understanding of many important skills such as time management and the importance of hard work. On top of that, she has discovered her passion for journalism and plans to pursue it as she moves on from high school.

“It made me realize what I wanted to do with life. I think I’m actually interested in journalism and it made me really fall in love with the idea of freedom of speech.”

As she graduates and departs from LSE this upcoming spring, Fitzgibbon aspires to be remembered by teachers and peers as the girl that livened up the classroom. She longs for a classroom environment where students put down their devices and instead make genuine connections with the people around them. 

“We’re already here at school, why not make it fun?” Fitzgibbon said.