By Yennifer Soriano
Hempstead High School
Every student has a busy schedule, but Kayci Guardado is exceptionally busy with her athletic and journalism journey.
Guardado, a rising junior at Central Islip High School, lives with her mother, father and older sister. Her other older siblings have moved out.
With a passion for school sports, Kayci participates in cross country, spring track and winter wrestling.
The achievement she is most proud of is when she surpassed her old best time of seven minutes and six seconds in the 1,500-meter run. “I finally was able to break my personal record with six minutes and 47 seconds, even though I broke both ankles this year,” she said.
Besides sports, Kayci is in the newspaper club, and is a member of the computer science honor society.
Her friend Katheryne Guzman Alvarez describes Kayci as passionate about anything she gets into, and as “a smart and shy person.”
“Once someone gets to know her and she starts to feel comfortable around them, she shows her personality and she is a great person to be around,” Katheryne said.
Kayci is a risk-taker, taking on challenges no matter how much of a struggle they could be for her. She described one of them: joining the male-dominated wrestling team in eighth grade without knowing much about wrestling. “I still took that risk of being one of the only girls that joined wrestling and [are] trying it out.”
Kayci describes herself as an ardent feminist, having attended programs with Planned Parenthood about anti-abortion laws being passed.
She has also found a passion for journalism, beginning with her computer journalism class and then joining the newspaper club. “I’m like the one that has posted the most on our newspaper app with maybe like ten articles,” she said.
“My teacher [Rahana Schmalacker] told me my papers were good,” Kayci said. “She was definitely one of my motivations to keep writing.”
Schmalacker introduced her to the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists.
“I honestly don’t know if I want to pursue physical therapy, computer science-related or media careers, but I hope I can figure it out through this program,” Kayci said. “I feel like this will give me a taste of what journalism is really like.”