With Anastasia Medley’s mother working at FHHS and both her brother and boyfriend attending FHHS, Anastasia still chose to stay at FHN despite not being closer to her family and boyfriend.

“Transferring to Howell, I think, would’ve been a little bit impractical because I’ve already been at North for a while so why not spend my last years here?” Anastasia Medley said I also wouldn’t have to leave my friends and that’s kind of important to me.” 

Even though her mother, Tina Medley, recently started working at FHHS as a Guidance Secretary in 2014, she has worked in the Francis Howell area for at least five years. Last year, family issues almost made Anastasia transfer to FHHS to be closer to her mom and her brother, but she eventually decided against it.

“She was conflicted, I think,” Tina Medley said. “We were talking about the good and the bad and how she wouldn’t know anyone at Howell and would know everybody here at North, and yeah, we had a lot of family issues going on at the time, but I think she’s glad she stayed anyway.”

Anastasia’s brother, Alec Medley, and Anastasia are used to not going to the same school. While Anastasia went to Hollenbeck Middle School, Alec went to Barnwell Middle School due to a boundary change after Anastasia’s fifth-grade year. Most Barnwell students go to FHN, but Alec decided he wanted to go to FHHS in the eighth-grade. His mom worked in the school district, so he had that opportunity.

“I decided to go to Howell because I thought it would’ve been cool since my mom worked there, and it would’ve been a fresh start for me,” Alec Medley said.

Even though her and her brother have differing opinions about school pride, Anastasia sports a FHHS hockey sweatshirt to support her boyfriend, Colton Hart, when she watches his hockey games.

“It annoys a few people so it’s kind of funny sometimes,” Anastasia said. “Not too many people say anything but then there’s the occasional ‘Really?’ or ‘Can you explain your hoodie?’ or something like that, and then I have to explain myself. Naturally, I support North, though, because I’ve gone here the last four years, but it’s funny wearing the sweatshirt to school.”