Lauren Puthoff is currently a senior at Pleasant Valley. She is kept busy as a two-year Spartan Assembly representative and as a member of the National Honors Society. After school hours, you can find her at a Positive Place, the club in which she discusses how to improve inclusivity at PV with her peers. Lauren also showcases her academic abilities and promotion of girls in STEM through aviation club and as a member of the first tech challenge where she connects with new people through. Not only is Lauren a stellar scholar, but she is also an athlete. Lauren has been swimming for ten years and has an impressive four years on the high school’s varsity swim team. If Lauren is not at a school club, you can find her working at the Bettplex, but during the summer, she works as a lifeguard at the Davenport Country Club. To relax, Lauren likes to settle down with a good puzzle and some true crime podcasts. The key to Lauren’s heart is tacos with chips and guacamole, but her one true love is her goldendoodle named Jasper. After high school, Lauren plans to leave the state and study construction engineering, but for now, she cannot wait for the adventure that awaits her as the Spartan Shield’s Opinion Editor for the semester.

Molly Rawat is finishing up her senior year as the Feature Editor for the Spartan Shield. Throughout her high school experience she has been an athlete for the cross country team all four years, with three of those as a varsity runner. Other than her strong dedication to athletics, Molly’s favorite subject is humanities due to her interest in understanding human nature through literature, art and philosophy. In addition to her academic and athletic workload, Molly is involved in writing club, which helps students grow more confident in their writing with a different prompt each meeting, and film club, which discusses various movies and music albums each week. She has grown fond of the author James Baldwin, as well as the director Shunji Iwai. Some of her favorite reads include Norwegian Wood, Dune and Native Son, along with her favorite movie being City of God. Other than immersing herself with books and films, Molly enjoys spending time driving around with friends, listening to music and podcasts about political and sociological theory, drinking mocha lattes and eating spicy foods. As Molly comes to a close on her high school career, she is excited for what the future holds, whether it is studying agriculture, astronomy or something unexpected!