Cactuses and succulents of all different shapes and sizes sit in their pots, covering the floor and windowsill of senior Kristen Rice’s room. She’s been collecting them for years and continues to do so, recently adding a Chinese money plant into the mix. A nature-lover since childhood, she also works part-time on a farm, picking prickly peaches in the summer and helping out in the bakery over the winter.

But Kristen doesn’t plan on being a farmer, or a gardener for that matter. Instead, she plans on being a journalist.

A dedicated student at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Kristen is Student Council vice president, editor of the school newspaper, and captain of her lacrosse team. As editor, Kristen has followed many stories, but her favorite story so far has been covering the addition of outdoor spaces within her school.

Lovingly called ‘Westsylvania,’ the spaces act as an area for students to de-stress and for indigenous species of plants to grow. Aside from her journalistic endeavors, Kristen also enjoys her Macroeconomics and Composition of Government classes, despite the heavy workload.

But heavy workloads don’t scare her, as she will be attending Temple University in the fall, majoring in journalism and minoring in political science as part of the Temple Honors College.

Why does she want to study journalism?

“I’ve always wanted to help people in every aspect of my life,” she said. “Through my extracurriculars I feel like I am able to see a positive impact on people in my community, and that’s why I treasure what I do.”