Senior Spotlight: Fionna Rose Regalia

Fionna Rose Regalia is a senior going to Mendocino High School with a wide array of talents and is a very relatable and reliable person. When she can get freetime between juggling school, work, and after school activities, she likes reading, going on her phone, and playing with her dogs. Our interview occurred in James Eastman’s room in the Community High School.

Up to now, Fionna’s favourite subject has been yearbook with Marshall Brown. “I think it’s a really fun class because you get to see everything happening in the school, you get to see your fellow students, you get to create something that you know your fellow students are gonna, y’know, charish… and also I get to boss people around as editor, so that’s fun, too.” As we continued, she described her least favourite class: “I’m going to have to say [it’s] a toss up between chorus freshman year, which I only joined because we were supposed to go on a trip to LA that we ended up not going on… and also AP Stats because I don’t understand. Don’t tell Mary.” Regalia’s ideal teacher is “someone who treats their students like people and not just students, who will show them respect and listen to them because if you do that to a student they will do that in return. Someone who genuinely cares about their students as people and not just as a grade… I would say Marshall Brown and Eastman are both very good examples of that.”

Fionna’s hardest challenge has been “ depression [and] hating school. I think that would be my biggest challenge.” So far into her high school career, she has learned “things may suck for a bit, eventually it will get better… And you have people around you, too, that care about you.” For younger generations, Fionna advised, “You’re only young for a little bit… enjoy your time, y’know, but of course be respectful to people around you especially at school because you have to see them all of the time, so it’s better just to have good relationships with people. But while you’re young, enjoy it because it’s not gonna last forever.”

Fionna goes to Mendocino High School and has since her freshman year. However, she did originally have interest in the Community School. “…All of my friends and all the people in my class were like, ‘Don’t go to the Comm School. That’s where the hippie stoners go,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t wanna be a hippie stoner’ so I went to the regular school.” In the future, Fionna thinks she is most likely to commit to Whittier College in Southern California.

As our interview drew to a close, I prompted Fionna with this question: how many pennies would fit into this room? “Okay so I discussed this with Eastman and he said that his room is about 20 feet tall, so I’m gonna say… two pennies that are 20 feet in diameter.”