By Jay Shenai
Hallie Day’s toughest obstacle is self-confidence, she confides, but looking at her resume you wouldn’t think it.
“Shyness – I may not portray it, but I have my very shy wallflower moments,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m going to succeed in something, so I might not try it.”
Or she just might.
The 17-year-old senior at Silverton High School is president of the Associated Student Body and an accomplished actress with the school’s Silver Mask Thespian Society. She was on the cheerleading team this football season. She has led assemblies and planned school dances. Last fall she organized the festivities along with classmate, Margie Will, at the open house event for the school’s Pine Street campus, an event that drew more than 1,300 attendees as well as more than 900 pounds of donated food.
She’s also a regular volunteer at Silverton Area Community Aid and Mt. Angel Chamber of Commerce. On top of that, she sometimes works as a clerical assistant at Mt. Angel Publishing.
She’s has received varsity letters for ASB, theater, speech and debate, and cheerleading. She has also won awards for her theatrical performances and for speech and debate.
Now the Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce has given her a new title: 2010 Future First Citizen.
In a letter, members of the Mt. Angel Chamber of Commerce stated: “It is rare to see a young person so mature, responsible, creative and dynamic.
“Hallie Day has already accomplished a great deal in her young life… We believe she has only begun.”
For Day, being so active is just part of who she is. On an average day she stays at school from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., then spends the rest of her day doing homework, assuming there isn’t a volunteer activity that needs her help, or a committee that needs planning input.
“I just like having things to do, I guess. I don’t like idle hands, I like having a full planner,” she said. “I like being a part of things bigger than me.”
Hers began as many teenagers’ volunteer careers do, as a way to improve her chances for college admission. But for Day, her interest instantaneously skyrocketed as she discovered her enthusiasm for social interaction.
“I guess with everything I do, it’s because of the people I get to work with,” she said.
Part of her success stems from her ability to hold her own among adults, in a grown-up world.
“It’s not like I shy away from friends of my own age, because I have tons of them, [but] I’ve never really had trouble getting along with adults, I’ve never had trouble working with them,” she said. “It’s even better when they actually view me not as a younger person but at their same level and they’ll talk to me as if I’m not a fourth-grader.”
Day credits much of her success and energy to her friends and family: her mother, Paula Mabry, publisher of Our Town, and James Day, sports editor at Salem Statesman-Journal.
“It takes that sort of support system; I have that support system in my family and my friends. That’s really important to me,” she said.
Both Hallie and her older brother, Matthew, were raised by their parents in defiance of the principle that children are to be seen and not heard, she said.
“They’ve never said ‘You can’t do that.’ Yes, I have a huge long list of [extracurricular activities], but it’s because they said ‘Yes.’”
“Granted, my plate is incredibly full, and I may never see them, ever, but they know I can [achieve success] so that’s how they’re there for me.”
These days, Day is preparing for college, awaiting word from several universities.
Unlike her parents, she hasn’t been bitten by the journalism “bug,” Day said. She is thinking of studying cultural anthropology. But she’s also interested in business. And theater. Not surprisingly a full slate, given her accomplishments thus far.
As she prepares to leave Silverton High, she encourages others to get involved.
Volunteering is easy, especially in Silverton, she said, and volunteers can readily see the results of their work in the community.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to volunteer and why not take the chance,” Day said.
“Get involved as much as possible. Get involved, do something. Don’t just sit around and let high school pass you by,” she said.
“You don’t know if you’re going to succeed until you try it.”
