Starting her freshman year at Mead, Avery took her base level courses and AP US History her sophomore year before transferring to Fredrick as an upperclassman.
After transferring to Frederick – proving it is the superior school – Corliss enrolled in AP Language and Composition, AP Psychology, and AP US Government her junior year. Then taking on AP Biology, AP Statistics, CU Intro to Fiction, and CU Sociology her senior year.
One of the people that helped Avery ease into life at Frederick was Mrs. Nugent, making her one of Avery’s favorite teachers. Avery said that “she really made me feel welcome when I was coming into FHS. She is so easy to talk to and she genuinely cares about all her students so much.”
Beyond the teachers, Avery’s favorite class has been AP Psychology her junior year. “I love learning about the brain and I think it’s so interesting to be able to understand how people think and why they think that way, and how tiny parts of the brain can affect so much.” Avery explained.
This passion has driven Avery to pursue a double major in Psychology and Criminology at Valparaiso University in Indiana. “I am interested in these majors because I am incredibly interested in the brain, especially the brain of a criminal or murderer.” Avery said.
“I want to learn about how their brains are altered to make them do what they do. I love the show Criminal Minds and everything they talk about is everything I want to study. I want to make criminal profiles and help find murderers and figure out what is going on in their brain to make them want to hurt or kill people. I can also use this to prevent future murderers. If we can figure out how their brain chemistry is altered then maybe we can look for signs sooner in life and prevent the next serial killer.”
After gaining her bachelors and most likely her masters, Avery wants to use her degrees to potentially become a criminal psychologist, criminal pathologist, crime analyst, or crime scene investigator.
While attending Valpo, Avery will also be competing on their D1 Swim and Dive team – a passion she’s had since she was a little kid. Avery specializes in the mile during club and the 500 & 200 free for high school.
Avery joined the Frederick girls team her sophomore year, making captain her senior year. Outside of school she’s competed on the Front Range Barracudas and the Flatirons swim team.
She explained how, “Being an athlete has taught me discipline and time management, because I had to balance practices, meets, and schoolwork. It has taught me how to cram hours of work into 30 minutes because that is all the time I have. Being part of a team also helped me build close friendships and learn how to push myself mentally and physically.”
During her sophomore year, Avery faced a setback that almost made her quit swim. She suffered a severe shoulder injury. “That taught me a whole new level of perseverance that I never thought I had. The countless hours of PT and weight training taught me a very important life lesson about commitment.” Looking back, Avery doesn’t know what she would do if she’d quit.
Many of Avery’s favorite high school memories come from swim and moments with friends. She recalled, “I will always look back at my high school days with specific friends that I know I will have forever. Even though I can’t wait to be out of high school and to be more independent, I do know I will cherish these memories forever.”
Outside of school and athletics, Avery enjoys baking, spending time with her family and dogs, fostering puppies, and spending time outside.
As she looks back on her high school years, Avery shares one piece of advice she wished she had as a freshman: “Stick with what you are passionate about and stay true to what is truly important to you. No matter how hard it is you have to stick with it, especially if you can’t imagine your life without it. So the moral of the story is never take the easy way out, in the long run it will be detrimental and you will always wish you could go back, but it will be too late.”
