By Mary Barringer

Baylea Crain grew up in Mounds with her younger brother and older sister. Many middle children are independent and competitive – Baylea is no exception. She has been an athlete most of her life, and describes sports as one of her favorite things about school. She participated in Level 2 and 3 competitive gymnastics from age 4 to 8, and that competitive spirit has grown and stayed with her throughout her academic career. Nowadays, Baylea loves to play basketball, volleyball, and softball. That love is most evident when she is on the softball field, where she is the catcher and first baseman for the SEMO Intensity travel softball team. Baylea says her favorite position is catcher – “I love being involved in every play.”

When faced with challenges such as her father’s hospitalization and subsequent recovery after a stroke, Baylea turned to her friends and her first love – sports. Baylea has made many friends at Meridian, and with athletes on teams at other schools. To provide emotional support and keep her encouraged, Baylea’s friends took her to a local trampoline park, where she took out her frustrations by playing another of her favorite sports, dodge ball.

Baylea is a 6th-grade student at Meridian. She loves seeing her friends and her teachers when she goes to school, speaking volumes about the student-teacher dynamic at Meridian. If it’s true that students are typically either left-brained learners or right-brained learners, Baylea is a teacher’s dream. When asked about her favorite subject, she named three subjects that do not typically go together, “I love art, math, and science.” Her academic success demonstrates she is a learner that requires few adjustments in teaching techniques.

Baylea hopes her softball skills will help her get a scholarship to play softball at SEMO. No matter what school she chooses to attend, her academic successes and love of art and science will serve her well in the future. When asked what she wants to be, she said, “I want to be a veterinarian or an architect/interior designer.”

When asked about how she would change the world, she said she hoped to make people kinder, help people with problems, and make the world healthier. Whether she becomes a veterinarian or an architect/interior designer, Baylea’s independence and competitive drive will help her change the world in ways she can only dream of now. Her example will help make the world a kinder, healthier, and more environmentally friendly place.