At the end of the year, a teacher can choose an exceptional student to be written about for a Senior Spotlight by the Athens Oracle. One of those exceptional students is senior Kai Polit Shearin at Athens Drive;, he is now a very hardworking and inspiring student. 

He was nominated for Senior Spotlight by his Spanish teacher, Dulce Rodriguez. She says that Shearin used to be disengaged but is now hardworking and an active learner.

Rodriguez observed that while Shearin didn’t seem to love Spanish 1, ”Now that I have him again in Spanish 2, he seems like a completely different student,” said Rodriguez.  “He is highly engaged, earning excellent grades, demonstrating strong language skills, staying on top of his work and even helping other students.” 

According to Shearin, he used to slack off until he had a realization that if you don’t try and work hard, you’ll never accomplish anything. He changed how he worked and is now a highly engaged and successful student. 

“I kind of got hit with a bit of [a] realization that if I don’t put in any effort, I won’t get any results. And if these bad habits kept continuing, I would eventually not succeed, not be able to go to the colleges I wanted to go to,” said Shearin. 

After having this realization, Shearin changed his behavior, becoming more engaged and hardworking. Many students can aspire to work hard, and even without a great start, you can always change how you do things to get better.

“I think, especially for Spanish, my main motivation is to learn the language and the history behind the language because I’m really interested in that.  In the language itself,” Shearin said. 

Having motivation can help with working and doing your best, which Shearin demonstrates. He can be seen as a role model to underclassmen who can see how they can change their work ethic and how they need to work hard to have success. 

“I wanted to see success in my life,” said Shearin.