(This article highlighting a Henderson County High School graduate is one of five included in the June graduation edition of the Hendersonian.)
Lilly Clark wants to be a pilot, but to build up to that, she plans on starting out as an aircraft mechanic.
To get there, the very busy graduate will report to United States Marine Corps boot camp in Paris Island, S.C., on July 7.
She’s not daunted by what lies in front of her; in fact, it’s something she’s always wanted to do—she is drawn to the discipline, hard work and respect inherent in a military career, she said.
After three months of boot camp, Lilly will return home for 10 days until she’s shipped off to aircraft mechanic school which could be an assignment halfway around the world. She won’t know where she’s going till later, she said.
In high school, Lilly took on a range of clubs, activities and athletics. She was in the JROTC, the drill and color guard and ran track all four years, and this spring she was the regional champion in triple jump with an effort of 33-6. Lilly also participated in the School of Fine Arts theater program and had parts in this spring’s “Sherwood” and in 2024’s “Wizard of Oz,” she said.
That’s not all. She also was in several clubs and participated in four other sports during high school—volleyball, swim team, wrestling and bowling.
When Lilly first started at HCHS after graduating from Holy Name, she said the big high school was “exhilarating,” like a new world had opened where you were “free to be and do whatever you want to do.”
“I met so many people,” she said “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Leaving school for the last time, she told the Hendersonian, was “kind of bittersweet for me…because I really liked high school.”
She said her advice for people in high school, or entering high school, “is to just be you and find who that is.”
