Students and teachers wake up with various attitudes towards the start of each day. Some students wake up with a negative attitude toward school. However, senior Sam Valentine, college preparation teacher Tyler Milbee, and engineering teacher Mark Snodgrass approach every day with a favorable outlook when coming into school.

“I try to wake up with a positive attitude everyday,” Valentine said.

There are pessimists and optimists, like Valentine, who roam SHS halls every day. Students and teachers from all backgrounds come to school for one main reason- to get educated, or to educate.

Senior Sam Valentine tries his best to wake up with a positive approach to school. He credits his positivity to teachers who are outgoing towards him and after school activities for him to attend.

“I maintain that positive attitude, because I look forward to going to those things (sporting events),” Valentine said.

Valentine believes his classmates also attempt to keep a joyful attitude to make school a positive environment. He says he could not ask for anywhere better to attend because of this.

Senior Kaleb Moore also goes into school confidently. He takes pride in attending SHS, and loves his classmates and teachers.

Newcomer Mark “Snod” Snodgrass has greatly adapted to the community in his first year of teaching an engineering class and coaching for the robotics team at SHS.

Snodgrass was confounded with an observation he made within the first few weeks of being on campus. Initially, to him as a stranger to many students at SHS, the students seemed miserable.

“Everyone seems sad (in the hallways),” Snodgrass said.

Because most students listen to music through their earbuds in the hallways, they are disconnected from others, according to Snodgrass.

However, there are teachers who think differently. Milbee was quick to find his calling at Southport. Soon after he started his teaching career at SHS, students and teachers pulled him into the family atmosphere.

“It’s a bigger school, but it kind of has a small school’s feel in the sense that it didn’t take long for me to meet a lot of the teachers and get to know all of them and same with the students,” Milbee said.

Seniors Sam Valentine and Kaleb Moore both love being a cardinal. Milbee has also grown into the community and has devoted himself to teaching at SHS. Both seniors make the most of their four years in high school by being an active student with school spirit. Snodgrass understands there are students who make the most of high school, but to him SHS appears bleak. These students and teachers walk the halls of SHS everyday and choose to see the school in their own way.