.png)
Mady Delira Castaneda is an Apalachee senior who has grown tremendously as a student over the past four years. Mady started her high school career at the Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy and quickly realized that it was not the best fit for her. She struggled and found herself behind academically at the end of her freshman year. She and her family made the decision that it would be best for her to transfer to Apalachee High School.
As she started her sophomore year at Apalachee, she quickly developed a friend group and started participating in different activities. She organized a Hispanic Heritage Day and got many students to participate. She also joined the soccer team and established herself as a leader both on and off the field. She still struggled academically, but she committed herself to passing all of her classes. Mady admits that “Focusing on my schoolwork was always hard for me because of what I'd surround myself with. I was always focused on the wrong things when it came to being at school.” However, she was able to find her focus, pass her classes and work towards getting back on track for graduation.
Mady’s junior year was another year where she continued to establish herself as a leader. She became the captain of the soccer team and helped to lead her teammates both on and off the field. She attributes a lot of her success to Coach Luke Myers. Mady said that “Coach Myers is always pushing me to do my best and he's always my go-to person to talk to. He has been there for me throughout all my tribulations and is always giving me advice on how to make it better.” She considers herself really lucky to have him as a support to help her get through school. Her grades were a little up and down over the course of the year, but she ended up passing all of her classes and putting herself in a great position to graduate on time.
Senior year started off great for Mady. She was getting into the swing of the year and was starting to excel academically. Unfortunately, tragedy struck Apalachee on 9/4 and her whole world was turned upside down. Her younger sister, Melany, was one of the students who was injured that day and Mady was devastated. Fortunately, Melany is on the road to recovery and Mady has been by her side the entire time.
Now, Mady is trying to get her senior year back to some sense of normalcy. She is working hard to achieve high marks in her classes so she can pursue her dream of attending college after high school. Mady wants to attend the University of North Georgia to pursue a career as either a surgical technician, a social worker for teens, or a criminal investigator. Mr. Dean, the Graduation Specialist for Apalachee, remarks that, “the sky is the limit for Mady. Her personality, temperament, and resilience will serve her well in whatever career she pursues. She is a great kid and Apalachee is lucky to have her as a student.”