The Class 2021 assembled for a tailgate Senior Breakfast on Wednesday. The rainclouds mostly held together while featured speaker, Chad Porter, addressed the crowd.

Chad shared his personal triumph over tragedy story with the group. As a teenaged athlete, he was involved in a horrific boating accident that took his leg, and along with it, his dream of playing college football.

You can read his book released last year, Severed Dreams, available on Amazon.

Contributed by Bebe Basinger, Design/Coverage Team, and the Pine Lake Yearbook Staff

Please mark your calendars. Pine Lake's campus and online classrooms will be CLOSED November 11 for Veterans Day.

Congratulations to Cecilia Beckwith, 2nd Grade Spanish Immersion teacher, who won the Beginning Teacher Fall Conference scholarship award from the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina. She attended the conference and workshop held October 15th.

We've got SPIRIT, yes we do! We've got spirit, how about BOO???

Ms. Shannon Wilson's ELA classes participated in Halloween descriptive writing activities.

Students had to write about an object without saying exactly what they wrote about. People can play by reading the paragraphs, making a guess, and then seeing pictures students illustrated!

We caught up with Morgan, who was Pine Lake's first ever athlete to be awarded an athletic scholarship. Morgan received a swimming scholarship at Queens University.

Speaking of queens, Morgan is currently living in the United Kingdom. Read on to see what she has been doing since her days as a PLP student.

A: After graduating from PLP, I started studying and swimming at Queens University of Charlotte. I had so many interests and wanted to get involved with every opportunity available - which is what college is for! - so I changed majors a few times those first couple years and ended up trading swimming for Greek life, tutoring in the university's Center for Student Success, and taking on extra classes. I found my passion studying International Studies and Spanish and studied abroad for 6 months in the south of Spain. I wanted to experience more of living overseas, and moved back to Spain (the north, this time) for a couple years after graduating from Queens to teach. I didn't only fall in love with education there - I met my now-husband. We decided to move to Liverpool together 2 years ago (where we got married) and I earned my MA in Education.

A: Currently, I'm working as one of the Supervisors in the contact center for a small tech company called Alertacall. We provide support for vulnerable adults all over the country by working as a daily contact service on behalf of sheltered housing providers and care organisations. The pandemic has really highlighted the need for our niche service and it's been very rewarding and fulfilling helping those most in need, especially during such a challenging time. I struggled to find a job where I was using my skills and experience, but also where I felt like I could make a difference. I chose this particular role because it allows me to directly provide our most at-risk and neglected with the resources they need for a better quality of life.

A: One of my favorite memories from my time at PLP is having lunch outside. I think PLP gave us a lot of room to be ourselves, go where we like during breaks and develop into independent young adults. I loved spending breaks and lunch times outside on the pavement with friends. I know that's probably an extremely boring memory...I can't remember a whole lot from that time but I do remember feeling comfortable and happy to be me there.

A: Mr. Rhodes. He was my English teacher for most of the time I was at PLP (as well as Ethics and IT, but also my main mentor. He was tough but that was probably why I respected him so much. What I've learned through my personal and professional journey in education is that the role of a teacher is so much more than sharing information. Great teachers inspire confidence, self-efficacy, independence and spark ambition. I think Mr Rhodes did that for me. No matter what I chose to study or explore, he taught me how to take ownership of it and go after what I want to achieve. How Rhodes taught our classes probably inspired my own teaching and management philosophy - I just didn't know it yet! Thanks, Rhodes!

A: PLP encouraged me to be the independent and proactive learner I (still) am. My time at PLP was very well-rounded. I was an athlete, but I still got to explore the arts. I took AP Science, but I also got the opportunity to be yearbook editor. I felt very prepared for college as I had already been trusted to manage my time and workload throughout high school - something I found to be a challenge for many freshmen at uni.

A: I think my advice for any highschooler is to just explore your interests. There are opportunities available if you look for them and are proactive. I think there is a lot of pressure on younger people to know what they're interested in, what they want to do, what the plan is, but that's not how life works. It's ok to like a million different things, or not yet know what you like to do and learn about. Be present and leave yourself open for opportunity. I am definitely nowhere near where I thought I'd be had you asked me these questions 10 years ago at PLP, but what a cool adventure it's all been!