By Tanner Russ
Silverton High School senior Lilly Paradis has been a soccer team captain, a basketball team captain, a record-setting member of a track and field 4×400-meter relay team as well as an excellent student and student body president.
And she seems to make a difference wherwever goes. Fred George, head coach of the Foxes’ girls soccer team, was quick to praise her.
“She’s really amazing. She’s been fantastic for us,” George said. “She’s a stellar player, she started out with not a lot of soccer skills, but innate athletic skills, and (Coach) Gary (Cameron) and I are so proud.”
On Nov. 2 in the play-in round of the OSAA Class 5A playoffs, Silverton edged Marist in a shootout to extend its season. George gave Paradis credit for the team’s collected demeanor.
“She’s a calming force for us,” George said. “We came off the field after the 80 minutes were expired and she was the first person to bring everyone together and say, ‘We’re in this, we got this.’”
For Paradis, it’s simply a matter of helping out her teammates in a close situation.
“We are like a family, on and off the field,” Paradis said.
Paradis has been playing soccer since the age of five and it remains her favorite sport.
“I love soccer,” she said. “Mainly because it’s so laid-back and easy-going, I love playing with the group of girls that we have out there.”
The Foxes were eliminated Nov. 5 by Willamette, 2-1, falling just one match short of the quarterfinals.
The family aspect is not unique to the soccer team, however. For Paradis and the basketball team, an extended history together has led to a tight-knit group, and a group that has shared a common dream.
“We’ve been playing together since (the seventh) grade,” Paradis said. “We’d always dreamed of someday being on the varsity team, and here we are, senior year. We only have one more year to play together, why not make the best of it? So no matter how successful we are this season, I know we will at least have a good time.”
When she’s not participating in sports, she’s going to church, attending youth group (barring an unreasonable amount of homework), attending Bible study before school, partaking in the American Red Cross club, volunteering at Silverton Area Community Aid, and being a member of the National Honors Society. Paradis has a 3.9 grade point average.
How does she manage it all?
“I think I just take one day at a time,” Paradis said. “There really isn’t any method to my madness. But I think that’s why I do it. It’s sort of a chaotic crazy mess, but it’s my mess and no one is going to have a mess quite like mine.”
Although she admits to being an independent person, she credits her parents, Donna and Pete Paradis, for helping her balance her busy life. “Whether it’s being my taxi driver in the early years or dealing with my constant excuse that I have homework and can’t help with the dishes. They’ve consistently been loving and supportive, along with my siblings too. I also wouldn’t be able to handle my crazy life without my faith in God. I can honestly say I would be a completely different person if I wouldn’t have had my faith to keep me strong and focused.”
With a strong support system in place, Paradis is set to take on the future and stay involved with her community … wherever that community may be. “I don’t know exactly what I want to do after high school but I know I want to go to college,” Paradis said. “I am excited to meet new people, join intramural teams and just get out there and do stuff. I love being involved, so I don’t see myself ever stopping.”
