Amber Harrell

The Senior Scoop is a podcast where the host interviews members of the senior class about their experiences and future plans. In this episode, Mr. Ming interviews Senior Amber Harrell. They discuss her feelings about graduating, her job at a coffee shop, her love for art, and her dream of becoming a singer-songwriter. Amber also gives advice to underclassmen to be true to themselves. She hopes to move out of Michigan in the future. The Senior Scoop is an opportunity for the community to hear directly from the senior class about their experiences, hopes, dreams, and reflections. The Scoop is a result of a collaboration between administration and the Class of 2023. We hope you'll enjoy chilling with us each week as we dish up a sweet treat of accumulated Wolverine wisdom 13 years in the making and introduce you to the fantastic young men and women who will soon become AGS alumni and tomorrow's community leaders. I'm your Senior Scoop host, Chris Ming, the proud superintendent of the Algrave Sims School District. Thanks for listening. Now, let's dig in. Good morning, Senior Scoop listeners. I'm your host, Mr. Ming, and I am here today. A beautiful Monday morning here. Sun is shining. The temperature seems to be rising, and I'm here with Senior Amber Harrell. So, Amber, thank you for being here today. Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. So, you have two weeks left, that's it, of your whole high school career, your whole schooling career up to this point. How do you feel? I feel happy, but at the same time kind of scared because adulting is something that I have to do now. Adulting. And that's really become a verb in the vernacular now. So, what does adulting mean? Pretty much working a lot now, paying bills, finding a place to live. So, is your intention after you graduate to move out and get your own place? Right now, I'm currently living with a friend and her family. And I just recently got my job at Coffee, and I kind of just need to save up money first before I can really go anywhere and do anything. Sure. How do you like that job? I think it's pretty fun. Kind of stressful when multiple people come in at the same time, but it's great. Do you have a favorite drink you like to mix? I don't really drink much there, but I usually get the iced mocha. Okay. So, if I were to come in there as a new customer, what would you recommend to me? Would the iced mocha be your recommendation? Yeah, because it's one of the only coffee drinks I actually drink. Okay. Well, I'm a coffee drinker. Can I drink any of the other ones? Any fan favorites you seem to know as you make a lot of? Um, I'm not entirely sure. I don't really necessarily make the coffee. I kind of try to stick to cash register because I get confused. Sure. Well, that's a new position, right? So, you have to work your way up to those things. Yeah. So, let's go back to your time here at AGS. How long have you been a student at Augury since? Um, I was kind of here since, like, halfway through third grade. Um, I was here all of fourth grade, and the fifth grade, I was back and forth between Aramuck Eastern here, like, five times. Okay. So, do you live kind of where that border used to be between our districts? Um, back then, I kind of used to live on, like, the outskirts of, uh, Augury, kind of like on Point Lookout. And then, I moved to Turner, and then, uh, they had, like, a bus come out there every once in a while. Okay. So, you've been here on and off for a long time. Yes. You've been at all three levels. What do you like about this place? Um, I kind of like some of the people. Not everyone, of course, but, like, some of the people are really cool. And I also like the teachers. I also like the teachers. They try to make learning fun, and they try to actually let students have a good time. Are there any teachers in particular you'd like to thank for your time here? Um, there's a few, yes. I would like to thank Ms. Anthony, Mr. Beardsley, and Ms. Richardson, including Mr. Loga. Okay. And what did those teachers do in particular that made you enjoy your time here? Well, Ms. Anthony, uh, loves art. And whenever I would need a break from, like, schoolwork, she would let me do some art, kind of as, like, to rethink and to, like, process. So, would you say that art helps you get your thoughts straight? Yeah. What kind of art do you enjoy? Um, I kind of do a little bit of everything, but I mainly like to sketch and sometimes paint. Okay. Any particular subjects or is it just whatever strikes your fancy at that moment? Usually it's, like, wolves or dragons, um, sometimes people, if I'm really feeling up to, like, crying my eyes out. Okay. Crying your eyes out by drawing people? Yeah. The hands are very complicated for me. I would say drawing anything is complicated for a lot of people, and I would include myself in that category, but it is nice to have some artistic talent. Any thoughts on using that into your future? Um, maybe, but I would say it's more of a hobby. Okay. So, right now, we talked about working your job, adulting, becoming an adult. Any other plans for after you walk across that stage and get that long overdue piece of paper? Yeah. I do want to be a singer-songwriter, but, of course, I kind of need to work and get money. Sure. So, what kind of music do you enjoy then? Um, I'm kind of a music freak, so I like just about a lot of music. Um, I mainly listen to, like, rock, sometimes heavy metal, sometimes indie alternatives, but I also like to listen to K-pop, which are two completely different sides of the music. Yeah, that might not even be the same spectrum. Those are completely different. No, very different, actually. Okay. So, is there a style that you like to perform in then? Um, I usually like rock, and I do want to be a rock singer, so I prefer more of, like, the indie alternative style. Okay. Well, excellent. You are the first singer that we've had on the podcast today. Well, not just today, but all the podcasts we've had. No one's talked about singing, so that's something different. So, what does the road look like for someone who wants to become a singer-songwriter? Like, what are your plans to making that dream a reality for yourself? Well, in my opinion, it kind of depends on the person. Me, personally, I tend to get, like, inspiration from myself, kind of like what I've been through over the years. I tend to want to use my music to help others, because music has helped me through a lot. Well, excellent. I think that's a very noble task to align to. I wish you the best of luck. I don't know anything about the music world or anything on how to help you there, but I'm sure that you'll find your own path. Probably won't be in Augre, though. Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see. Where do you think that road might lead you? Well, I guess maybe somewhere different than Michigan. I do plan on getting out of the state, maybe someday in the future. Okay. Warmer weather? Chase that? Maybe, yeah. I'm kind of tired of, like, freezing my toes off. It has been an awful winter and spring, hasn't it? Yeah. Hopefully, this is a sign. We're looking outside at a very sunny day, and good gracious, we might actually hit the 70s today. Hopefully. Although I have seen the forecast for Wednesday, and it looks like we might top out at mid-40s. Not so great. Darn. Well, hopefully, we have fewer of those as we start to move toward our air-coated summer, because it's been a long time coming. We've had a lot of wet weather here. So why don't we take that? We'll transition into maybe the random weird question. You've heard a rumor that I like to ask something a little bit different, a little bit strange. So let's go with this one. Let's say technology were advanced to the point where you had the opportunity to visit Mars. Would you? That's a good question, actually. I never really thought about that. I have to say I would. Why? I don't know. It just seems curious about, like, the random things that people would say about it, and or just what it looks like, actually. So a trip with current technology would take you round trip to Mars, it would take you about five years. So you go to Mars, you explore a little bit, you come back five years later. What do you think the world looks like five years later after leaving it? That depends on what human society does. No, I agree with you there. A lot can happen in five years. You might want to turn you back to Mars, huh? Okay. So you've been on and off at All Great Sins, and you've got a plan potentially to make some money, to go on the road, to become a singer-songwriter. Are there any skills that you've learned here that you maybe have developed that you feel have prepared you for that kind of wild and luxurious future? I wouldn't necessarily say skills, but being here has kind of, like, helped me, like, become a bit more social instead of, like, in a shell like I usually used to be. Like, when I was in class, I would literally not talk to anybody. Like, people would have to come up and talk to me. And now I feel like I've been starting to actually, like, open up and be annoying to, like, everyone. Well, be annoying is all in the eye of the beholder on that one. So you've done a wonderful job so far. We're approaching the end of our time together. And what I've given every senior the opportunity to do is think about their time here and what's made them successful or hasn't made them successful that maybe would have helped. So this could be advice that you would give underclassmen or even advice that you wish you would have given yourself if you could go back in time. So what words of wisdom do you have that you could share with us in the podcast community about your time here and how to be successful? Well, don't try to be what everyone else wants you to be. Just be yourself, be who you want to be, and don't change that for anyone. Unless you're a bad person, then you might want to change a little. So be who you are as long as you're trying to do good. Yeah. Okay. And good's a relative term, right? So there are a few toes you have to step on along the way, but being good is a choice you can make every day. Yep. Okay, well, I like it. Amber, anything else you'd like to share with us before we sign off? Um, no, I don't think so. Well, congratulations on earning your diploma. A little preemptive and a little bit early. We've got a couple of weeks yet until we graduate, but two weeks left of school, three weeks left of graduation. Congratulations on your journey so far, and I wish you the best of luck in your future. Thank you. This has been a production of the Albright-Simms School District. Thanks for tuning in, and we hope you join us again soon for another In Your School.