“Yeah, my mom is the one who… got me into the very start of [cheerleading],” said Dudas.
Introduced to cheerleading by her mother in elementary school, she competed in cheer All-Stars for most of her childhood. Dudas started cheering for Athens in her junior year. With Athens, she has helped the team win five awards so far. As a senior, she is now on varsity, and Dudas has enjoyed and reminisced with the team over the time she’s spent with them. Though last year’s performance may not have gone as expected, the cheer team has won all four of their competitions this year, as well as qualified for the Carolina Cup.
“But this year, we’ve been to… four competitions. We’ve won every single one,” said Dudas.
She has also been active in Athens’ theater program since her freshman year. On the stage, in class, and behind it for productions, Dudas thoroughly enjoys all aspects of theater Athens has to offer. Now in Advanced Theater, a class that requires auditions to be enrolled in the class, Dudas spends several hours a week practicing monologues and writing scripts. At Athens, she’s
participated in two productions, Seussical and Little Women, as well as, as well as Murder on the Menu, which was put on by the Honors Theater class. In class, she memorized many monologues, such as Shakspere’s Comedy of Errors and Act 5 Scene 1.
As for veterinary practice, her internship helps her transition into the working world from high school. At Northwoods Animal Hospital, she works alongside classmates Collette Armstrong, Kaitlyn Lovenduski, and Maëli Gleason. Dudas spends her summer and occasional weekends helping the hospital with setting up kennels, dog runs, and giving the animals food. This internship is paid unlike many entry-level internships, which makes it certainly worthwhile.
The internship was organized through the Athens Drive’s Medical Sciences program, which requires all students in the program to complete an internship in the bridge between junior and senior years. Through the medical sciences program, Dudas has not only completed an internship but also mentored incoming freshmen into the program, as well as done projects about her veterinary experience.
“She goes out and she looks for tasks to do. She doesn’t just want to just sit around,” said Grace Edwards, senior and classmate of Dudas.
Though her time at Athens is almost up, Dudas has a lot set up for her post-high school career. She currently plans to go to NC State, and afterward continue to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. She spends a lot of time building skills for the future, whether that be athleticism, memorization, and public speaking skills, or an even more directly applicable veterinary training. She looks forward to where her future will take her.
