Neighbor Spotlight: Bethel Park High School senior plans to make serving her country her life’s work
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Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, visit bethelparkjournal.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner, click the “New Article” button and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.
The sky is the limit for Bethel Park High School senior Brianna Hayes as she will be headed to the Air Force Academy later this year.
She plans on becoming an operations research analyst or an engineer and make a career serving the country.
“I’ve always really been into finding creative ways to solve problems and I enjoy math, which is not something id never thought I’d say,” she said. “I like finding new ways to solve issues, and I think working with a team like that and solving these big issues that could really help our country sounds like something so awesome to me.”
Hayes visited the academy in Colorado a couple of years ago and was thoroughly impressed.
“I like having the discipline of it, and I always like to challenge myself and push myself outside my limits. As soon as we visited I was like, ‘Yeah, this is where I’m going (and) will do everything I can to make that happen.’”
She received a congressional nomination from U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills.
Hayes hopes to travel in the service and eventually be stationed in Germany – she has studied that country’s language and culture for several years under the tutelage of high school teacher Christopher Tobias.
She called Tobias the hardest and one of the best teachers in the district.
Girl Scouts
Hayes has been in Girl Scouts for 13 years. She recently completed her Gold Award project for Bethel Central Girl Scout Troop 52621.
The awards ceremony is June 19, just two days before her 18th birthday.
Her project was called “The Petsylvania Paw Project,” which included an activity book about pet abandonment along with the creation of social media pages to raise awareness of the issue.
She said the inspiration to do such work came from a stray tabby cat the family rescued and named Tigger.
“She was a stray and was very close to dying whenever we rescued her,” Hayes said. “I can’t imagine my life without her now. I wanted to try and prevent that as much as I could. If we hadn’t been there at the right time or if we decided we didn’t want to take in a stray cat, she probably would not be alive right now.”
Hayes said working on the project also felt like a nod to her former professional plans of becoming a veterinarian.
Other activities
When she is not consumed by her studies, Hayes engages in various school activities such as section leader of marching band, captain of an ultimate Frisbee team and a member of the faith-based group Campus Life. She was also class vice president in ninth and 10th grade.
“Bethel Park has definitely given me many opportunities to be a leader,” Hayes said. “I like to expand my horizons as much as I can.”
“I’m very proud of her,” said her mother, Jennifer Hayes. “This is something she has definitely wanted to do for some time, wanting to serve her country and to do so in a leadership role.”
Jennifer Hayes said Ralph Watters, Brianna’s grandfather and a Korean War vet who served in the Army, is also proud of her.
Hayes credits her mother with providing the structure to stay focused on tasks and heightened time management skills.
She said her advice for young people trying to find what they want to do in life is to do the following:
“Don’t let anyone tell you can’t” and “ignore the people who are trying to put you down.”