Aislinn Akin is a senior at Dimond High School and will graduate in the coming weeks with all the other seniors in the class.

“I have known Aislinn for about five years, since middle school, and she’s really a great person to hang out with and be around,” said one of Akin’s friends, Alex Bishop.

Akin has participated in Cross Country Running all four years at Dimond, and she got a varsity letter for it in her senior year.

“I have really enjoyed my time in Cross Country Running,” said Akin. “The coaches are really supportive of you and encourage you the entire way. They really do care about you.”

Akin also participated in after-school Softball in her freshman and sophomore years.

She earned a varsity letter for the sport in her freshman year and made the varsity team in the same year.

She left Softball after her sophomore year to focus on cross country running and her classes.

“I did like Softball, but I didn’t want to be in Cross Country and Softball at the same time going into my final two years of high school,” Akin said.

Akin has been in two clubs in her four years at Dimond, Anime Club her freshman year and Glee Club.

Akin has been in Glee Club for the last two years of high school, but only for the first semester of each year.

“I don’t participate in the second semester of [Glee Club] because it’s always packed full of kids, and it’s usually the same thing as the first semester,” Akin said.

Akin has also participated in Dimond Night Live [DNL] for all four years of her time at high school.

“DNL is one of the things I’ve enjoyed most during my time here at Dimond,” said Akin. “When I was a freshman, I was kind of crazy, and DNL gave me a place to project all that craziness onto a stage where it was welcomed.”

DNL is a comedy show based off of SNL, and the students make the skits for the show, so almost everything in the show is made by the students.

DNL was shut down for a short time after Akin’s sophomore year, but they brought it back shortly after they shut it down and Akin says the shut down “lit a fire in us to make the show great,” since the show has become a tradition at Dimond.

After high school Akin plans on going to the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to pursue a career in criminal justice.

“I really would like to not be a lawyer,” Akin said. “I’m more interested in investigating the crimes, being a detective. Plus being a lawyer is a very stressful job, a lot more stressful than a detective’s job.”

Akin said she wanted to be a detective because “I enjoyed learning about the law in government class and watching ‘Law and Order’ really inspired me to be a detective. I also want to be a person that helps the world in the criminal world.”

Akin says she has enjoyed her time at Dimond because all her friends are here at Dimond.

“I think one of the main reasons I have enjoyed Dimond High School, compared to other high schools, is because the majority of the friends I’ve known in my life go to this school. It makes it fun to come to school every day.”

“Another reason is because of [Jennifer] Buck. Ms. Buck is, honestly, my favorite person at this entire school. She’s helped me with so much of the drama and bad things in my life. She’s helped me with college preparation and job preparation. She’s been a backbone for me through my time here at Dimond.”