Alaina Wall is a dedicated Cascade High School (CHS) and Running Start senior. At CHS she serves as a dedicated Co-Editor in Chief for the Cascade Publications team. “I would describe Alaina as quiet, but still ha[ving] a very big personality when she does like to open up and start talking. She is very dedicated to her work, and I admire that a lot,” said Co-Editor in Chief, Vanessa West (12). Outside of school, Alaina enjoys creating digital art and learning how to cook various kinds of food.
Over the years as a team member for the CHS Pub team, Alaina gained the experience and mindset to work efficiently as a leader and team member to publish content on a scheduled timeline. Publications “gave me a chance to go beyond what I was capable of doing and to learn from my past. Publications will be the starting point or foundation of how I view in a work setting in whatever career I’m going to end up with,” said Alaina. The cover of the 2022-23 CHS yearbook, the Ursa Major, was entirely created by Alaina Wall over the summer. “I don’t think I will ever forget how much effort and energy Alaina put into making our cover for the 2023 yearbook. She took every skill that she has, and she is highly talented, and combined them all to really make a gift for the class of 2023. I do not think that I will ever forget that. That was really cool of her; she did not have to do that,” said Publications Advisor, Ms. Robison. In her senior year, Alaina has grown extremely dedicated to the CHS newspaper and yearbook. She has taken on a huge leadership role and is very skillful at being able to take her talents and teach them to the incoming staff of the Publications team. “Alaina is very, very talented at graphic design and interviewing people. That makes her a valuable member of our team. She’s also very detail oriented, so she sees things in a creative way that no one else on our team really does and is able to check for things that the rest of us don’t really see. She is incredibly valuable as a team member,” said Robison.
It is quite impressive how hard-working Alaina Wall is and how she is able to get her work done while also helping other students. “When Miss Robison told us that she saw Alaina was on Jostens at two am and I think that was kind of crazy to hear that she was up so late to get stuff done,” said Vanessa West (12).
Alaina wants to help people who struggle with hardships similar to her own by becoming a therapist for the deaf. After she graduates from Cascade High School at the end of the semester, she will spend a year in a specialized program for the deaf, then move forward with her education at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. or at Central Washington University. “Currently, I’m trying to figure out if I want to do CWU for 3-4 years and then go to Gallaudet University for 2 years or just go straight to GU for 6 years,” said Alaina.
In her sophomore year, Alaina joined Speech and Debate in order to become a better writer and public speaker. “A lot of people assume that I am not good at public speaking, but in actuality, I am decent at it if I prepare beforehand. It was in 10th grade, so that was when we were still quarantined, so it was hectic. I wasn’t able to do an actual performance because of the pandemic. However, while being in it, it was warm and welcoming, so I had a lot of fun,” said Alaina.
Alaina is originally from China and was adopted by Darrel and Melinda Wall when she was two years old. When the Walls flew over to get her, they didn’t think that she knew any sign language, so when they took her to breakfast, they started to teach her some signs.
“Suddenly, we saw the light in her eyes, like a lightbulb went on, and she suddenly figured out the sign for the word ‘more’ and she just kept asking for more and more food. We were so excited to see that she could learn so quickly,” said Mrs. Wall. Fast forward fifteen years and Alaina became a Running Start student and has a variety of options for the classes she wants to take while getting her education at Wenatchee Valley College. “I have done ASL (American Sign Language) 121 and 122 at WVC in my Junior year and currently am doing Deaf Studies (ASL 131) in my winter quarter and will be doing ASL 123 (ASL 3) in my spring quarter to get my beginner ASL classes in,” said Alaina.
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