Camryn Pestru Photo by Isabella A.
Camryn Pestru is a soft-spoken, friendly grade ten student, known at St. Joe’s for her athletic and academic success.
Camryn attended L.A. Desmarais in Forest Glade until grade seven when she moved to Corpus Christi to participate in its hockey program. She really enjoyed this school, despite its open concept format, describing it as a great place to grow up. At a young age, Camryn was very involved in sports, including soccer, basketball, track and field, cross country, and badminton, so being able to participate in a hockey program as part of school classes persuaded her to make the switch to Corpus Christi. Its most memorable feature was its amazing people.
Moving from elementary school to high school is a significant and stressful change for many students. For Camryn, the biggest challenge was adjusting to how the day was scheduled at St. Joe’s; rather than staying in a single classroom all day, students rotate to four different rooms. However, Camryn quickly adjusted to the new schedule and managed to get involved in some sports at St. Joe’s.
You can find Camryn on the Laser’s girls hockey and soccer teams. She was on the hockey team in grade nine and this year is the captain. This past December, she led the girls in a historical game in the Father Zakoor Cup exhibition game. It was the first year that the girls hockey teams of St. Joe’s and Brennan were able to battle it out on the ice before the boys game, and take part in this long lasting winter tradition. Camryn describes the feeling of being on the ice during that game as “unreal” and is honoured to have been part of such an amazing first for her school.
Camryn considers being captain of the girls' hockey team to be one of her greatest achievements, along with maintaining a high average, and being able to balance school work on top of extra-curricular activities. She plans on combining her love for sports with her work ethic to become a physiotherapist or a chiropractor. When she was younger, she was drawn to the idea of being a marine biologist, but as she got older, she became more interested in how the human body works. “I find the idea of helping people really cool,” she explained. She is planning to participate in a Co-op placement in one of these fields and is always eager to learn as much as she can about these jobs so she can achieve her dreams.
When asked if she had some advice for the grade nines at St. Joe’s, Camryn said, “always stay true to yourself and do not hide your talents.” She also encourages grade nines to get involved and make the most out of their four years as a Laser, saying “it may seem like a long time, but trust me, time flies.”