Bringing Joy To FHN

Scalpels and brain surgery is scary for anyone, but is much more real for sophomore and Knightline athlete Sarah Stover. Stover has Chiari Malformation, a disorder where the skull has a hole at the bottom causing brain tissue to extend into the spinal canal. It affects Stover daily, but never stops her.

“I didn’t know [I had Chiari Malformation]- I found out I had it in November. I could’ve gotten the surgery earlier in January, but I wanted to wait until dance season was over,” Stover said. “Whenever I do a lot of high-level activity, I get really bad pain and pressure in the back of my head. I also get dizzy or blurry vision.”

Stover is in love with dance and has been dancing for 10 years. Her love for it inspired her to try out for Knightline in the spring of her eighth-grade year where she met her best friend, sophomore and Knightline athlete Abby Martinez. Martinez has been supporting Stover, even when she first found out about her Chiari Malformation.

“In the beginning, she was a little [scared for the surgery], but she was more heartbroken that she couldn’t dance,” Martinez said. “She’s obviously worried, but she was never reluctant. She’s ready to get it fixed.”

Martinez and Stover have been best friends for two years and Martinez has been there for her the whole time. Stover soon went to a neurologist after having extreme headaches and such, then had an MRI.

“When she got the results of the MRI and she found out, her parents called me and my family over for her,” Martinez said. “She’s like a part of my family. We can rely on each other with everything.”

Anyone could sympathize with Stover’s worry about having a brain surgery, but she, her family and friends are mostly excited for her to recover. With Stover’s support system, nothing can stop them.

“I am nervous, but I don’t think anything will go wrong because it’s a simple surgery,” Martinez said. “She can’t wait to go back to mostly normal. I’m excited for her”

The only thing on Stover’s mind throughout this is returning to her passion of dancing. Being able to dance without pain is her goal, and she’ll even go through brain surgery to achieve it.

“It’s supposed to be one of the most common pediatric brain surgeries, it’s done often enough that there aren’t high risks from it. Anything could really happen like any other surgery,” Stover said. “I think it will be hard getting back into dance, but I should recover fine.” Sophmore Sarah Stover poses with two awards from a dance competition. Knightline is FHN’s dance team, and Stover is a varsity dancer. She requires surgery to fix her Chiari Malformation .(Photo submittted) SURGERY TO DANCE AGAIN by Ivy Lowery ilowery408@g.fhsdschools.org Knightline athlete Sarah Stover needs brain surgery to keep dancing

Fun. Creative. Memorable. That’s how Senior Aakruthi Pasuparthi describes the role of being the voice of FHN. Cherishing the moments she created with Aakruthi’s joke of the day, Pasuparthi hopes to inspire students that they can do something like this and be involved with the FHN Community.

“[I’m motivated by] the laughs that I hear in the office and the joy that these jokes bring to people was just really cool,” Pasuparthi said.

FHN Secretary Stephanie WeeksSlaughter takes the time to compile a list of information for Pasuparthi every day. Pasuparthi would go to the main office every single day of the school week to announce daily school announcements and end with her joke of the day. She persistently did this even when she received hate from students who didn’t have a fond liking for her jokes.

“Some of the people were just like they’re [jokes] annoying, but I kept doing them and a lot of faculty praised me,” Pasuparthi said.

Aakruthi’s joke of the day progressively became a signature for the culture at school. She would find jokes online and tell them at school. Pasuparthi enjoyed knowing that she made someone’s day, making an impression long to be forgotten.

“[My favorite joke was] ‘I don’t tell dad jokes very often, but when I do, he usually laughs’ and for some reason that stuck with me,” FHN principal Nathaneal Hostetler said. “I laughed a lot. I told my own dad that joke.”

When the school closed due to COVID-19, Pasuparthi eventually joined Hostetler on daily Facebook lives at 8 a.m. Hostetler added her to create a sense of normalcy in the current situation. Hostetler relays information that answers questions from students or parents on Facebook live. On the other hand, Pasuparthi would read out students’ birthdays and do her joke of the day.

“[During Facebook lives] it didn’t take long to realize that there really was something missing and it was Aakruthi,” Hostetler said. “During the course of the year, she became the Voice of FHN [and] for people to be able to see and hear her do the joke of the day has been a big deal.” BRINGING JOY TO FHN by Shivani Bondada shivanibondada@gmail.com Senior Aakruthi Pasuparthi shares her experience in being the voice of FHN Senior Aakruthi Pasuparthi smiles during an interview for FHSD Lifelong Learner video. Pasuparthi has been doing the daily announcements and providing the FHN community with her joke of the day all school year. She has also been heavily involved in various activities around the school including marching band, delta, and mentors. (Photo submitted) 09 FEATURES | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM PAGE BY AADHI SATHISHKUMAR

MORE INFO View Dr. Hostetler’s daily Facebook Live here: https://bit.ly/NSfhnlive