Senior Spotlight: Kathryn Morano

Kathryn Morano is a senior to look out for in the future. A passionate softball player, Kathryn’s dedication and hard work has paid off, allowing her to reach some pretty remarkable achievements. In fact, according to one of her closest friends, Lucie, “Kathryn is such a hard worker and has earned everything she has achieved,” proving her amazing capabilities and certainly bright future. She is not just an accomplished softball player, as she has spent a significant amount of time helping out the community. By being part of various programs, she has also forged some amazing friendships that she believes have been foundational to allowing her to have a great experience here at Metuchen High School. She has stayed supportive and close to her friends throughout the years, allowing for truly strong and important friendships to be established.

Kathryn has been playing sports since she was just 4 years old. She started off with soccer and later began to devote much of her time to playing softball. Starting to play at around 8 years old, Kathryn now plans to build her future around softball. She just recently committed to Fairfield University in order to play for their softball team next season. She currently plays for the school’s softball and soccer teams as well as a separate club softball team outside of school. According to her, the best part about playing team sports are, “the friendships that you make because you know that they are going to last a lot longer than just high school.” One of her friends, Emma, claimed that “Kathryn is like the big sister [she] never had” and that she loves their “endless Starbucks and Dunkin runs” as well as “all the soccer memories [they] made.” She is “so proud of her and can’t wait to see her shine at Fairfield.” According to Kathryn, her connections with both friends and teammates have taught her the importance of teamwork as well as “how to work as a group and not just as an individual.” She places a high importance on these connections which have clearly guided her throughout her high school journey thus far. 

With regards to her academic abilities and her dedication to playing softball while being such an amazing student, Mr. Murray had this to say about Kathryn: “Kathryn is awesome, and she LOVES math. I actually don't know if that last part is exactly true, but she is awesome. I have had the fortune to teach her for 2 consecutive years: Honors Precalculus last year, and AP Calculus this year. This fall, in addition to a full course load and the usual senior year stress, she plays on the school soccer team, plays on a travel softball team, and she never complains (well, not much anyway). She works so hard to juggle these activities, and somehow manages to not just get by, but to excel at all of them. It's only October, but I know the year is going to fly by, so I will just say that I have a lot of respect for Kathryn and will miss having her in class next year. Good luck, Kathryn!”

Kathryn Morano is also part of the student council, where she represents the student body. She believes that inclusion is vital within the school when it comes to ideas since “everyone has good ideas” so therefore everyone deserves to be listened to. She specifically enjoys how she is able to convey the ideas and messages of the grade to let the “officers know what everyone is thinking and what their thoughts are” regarding various situations and topics. Kathryn is also part of Bring Change 2 Mind. Kathryn believes in the importance of mental health, especially for athletes. Through this club, she is able to “go to a lot of different sports teams…, set up tables and stands, and [in turn] spread awareness” to the rest of the community with regards to mental health. Her dedication to making sure nobody feels left out as well as her passion for spreading awareness for various causes can also be seen by the fact that she is part of the Unified P.E., which allows students to help out those with special needs. As a result of being part of this, Kathryn has learned that “accepting everyone is the most important thing” and that “learning more about people can make you a better person.” Kathryn is also a part of Peers to Volunteers, where she helps out the town and coordinates with Metuchen’s Borough Hall in order to help out the town as a whole. Through this program she helps to arrange donations, lead events, and more  to help make this town a better place. Through this program, Kathryn has learned the importance of giving back to her community and volunteering in order to benefit the lives of others. 

Kathryn Morano has had a great experience at Metuchen High School. Her friendships with classmates and teachers have allowed for this experience to be so great. With her high school career coming to a close, Kathryn plans to go to Fairfield, where she committed for division one softball last March (she had always been fond of this college). Kathryn has a strong interest in occupational therapy which she hopes to expand upon at Fairfield and establish a career in that field in the future. According to her, she specifically wants to major in psychology and minor in special education. Clearly, Kathryn Morano, a dedicated student, athlete, and friend in the class of 2026, has an amazing future ahead of her.