Get to know your 2011 Senior Survivor Contestants

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May 6, 2011 • Paige Williams, Staff Writer
Filed under Feature

It’s about that time again where HHS seniors will battle against each other in challenges and in raising the most amount of money for charity. Senior Survivor this year will be starting Sunday, May 15 and will go through Thursday, May 19. The benefiting charity this year is Connection Youth Services which aid teens and families in crisis. T-shirt sales end on Friday, April 29 and the survivor with the most t-shirts sold will win immunity Monday night, as all seniors will be spending the night on Sunday.

Basically, throughout the week, twelve seniors, six girls and six boys, will be competing against each other to raise the most money each day, and the senior with the least amount will be sent home. On top of competing to raise the most money each day, the seniors will be competing in undisclosed challenges to try and win immunity for that next day. There are also privilege challenges in which, if won, the senior gets special prizes like cell phone usage or being able to go out to eat.

Some of the basic rules for Senior Survivor are:

No cell phones/ electronics
No car keys
Only allowed to bring pillow and sleeping bag and other basic necessities

On the last day there will be four final contestants. The finale will be held at the end of the day in the HHS auditorium for all those interested in watching the results.

And now it’s time to meet the contestants and start picking your favorites. Each senior was asked the following basic questions:

What are you most excited for with Senior Survivor? Why?
What are you least excited for? Why?
Besides yourself, who do you think will win/ who do you want to win? Why?
How challenging do you think Senior Survivor will be? Why?
What was your initial reaction when you found out you made it on Senior Survivor?

Contestants’ Responses:

Maria Barlow

1. “I am most excited to spend time with fellow seniors, and to help raise money for a good cause.”
2. “I am least excited for a challenge that involves eating anything nasty!”
3. “Besides myself, I think that Malory Dowdle will win Senior Survivor. I want Malory to win! I want her to win because she is a cheerleader!”
4. “I don’t think Senior Survivor will be too challenging, unless there is an eating challenge! I don’t think it will be too challenging, because I am an athlete and I am faced with many challenges on a daily basis.”
5. “My initial reaction when I found out I made it on Senior Survivor was I was excited! I really wanted to participate this year so finding out I made it made me super happy!”

Sarah Beatty

1. “I am really excited for the challenges. I have always thought they would be something I can do and want to try them and hopefully win.”

2. “I am least excited about staying all night at the school. I would prefer my bed to sleep on and not the floor or chairs.”
3. “I have absolutely no idea. Everyone is equally good because they all have their different talents that can allow them to win. Whoever wins is fine with me.”
4. “I think it could be a range of difficulties. Some things can be easy to me and I fear others will be hard. However, I do believe raising the money would be the hardest because I am kind of nervous when it comes to asking strangers for money.”
5. “I was really nervous and actually wanted to quit. I am not the typical person who gets picked for these types of things, and I was freaking out.”

Zach Campbell

1. “To spend the night in the school because I feel these old walls have a story to tell and they need someone to listen.”
2. “Not having Taco Bell.”
3. “I feel Shane will win because he has that charisma, the kind of charisma that makes you wanna walk up to him and say, ‘Hey, how ya’ doin’ buddy?’ ”
4. “On a scale of 1 to 17 I’d say that Senior Survivor will be a 14… Because it’s challenging.”
5. “I will answer that with three words Fire, Ghosts, Eagle.”

Malory Dowdle

1. “I am most excited to compete in the challenges!”
2. “Well, if there is a challenge where we have to eat nasty food I am least excited for that! I have a very weak stomach!”

3. “If anyone else were to win besides myself it would be Maria Barlow. I think she will do good in the challenges!”

4. “I think Senior Survivor is going to be challenging, but fun! I think the worst part will be the lack of sleep!”

5. “When I found out I made it on Senior Survivor I was thrilled! I had been wanting to do it since I saw it for the first time in ‘08!”

Shane Dzierwa

1. “What am I most excited for about Senior Survivor? I am excited to be able to slither down the hallways at night. Why? Because I am getting sick of doing it during the day.”
2. “I am least excited for the entire school to see me crying on camera.”
3. “I would like Malory Dowdle to win because I was originally the color purple but we traded. So if she won, I could just tell her that it was the shirt, which should have been mine.”
4. “Let me answer that with another question: How hard is it to make a cat’s cradle with steel wool?”
5. “When I first found out, I was relieved because I had bet my whole life savings to Ian-under-the-bridge that I would get into Senior Survivor.”

Caitlin Green

1. “I am just excited to be with all the people. I don’t know many of them very well, but at the meetings there was never a dull moment and I am just excited to see what happens.”
2. “Having to eat unpleasant things, in the past that always looked the worst.”
3. “I honestly don’t know.”
4. “I think it will be tough to keep motivated throughout it.”
5. “I could hardly contain myself. I kept reading the paper because I wanted it to start right away, and I wanted to know more about everything that was going on.”

Conor Ruggles

1. “I am most excited to win challenges and spend quality time with Karter Wallace.”
2. “Spending time around Cal Smith.”
3. “I think that Calton Smith would win other than me and I would want whoever can raise the most money to win!”
4. “I believe that it will be pretty challenging because we [can’t] leave the school and it’s gonna be pretty exhausting.”
5. “I was super excited and ready for the challenge.”

Ashlyn Samples

1. “I’m most excited for having to live at the school for the week. I think that it will be really fun!”

2. “I’m least excited for not being allowed to leave school or not be allowed to have our cell phones. That will be very hard.”

3. “I could see Cal Smith winning it all.”
4. “I think that it will be mentally challenging; [we] will have to be on top of [our] game the [entire] time.”

5. “My initial reaction when I found out that I made senior survivor was… ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ”

Courtney Schippers

1. “In all honesty, I’m pretty geeked to being living in the school for a week. It sounds like a fun time, and this is a great group of people to be stuck in a school with. This is such a great cause to be raising money for, and even though it’s a competition, we’re all in it to reach the same goal and make a difference for this cause.”

2. “Even though I’m super competitive, I’m the least excited to have to compete against some of my friends. It’s all in good fun, but it’s still hard. I’m also getting kind of nervous about the food challenge. We never know what ridiculous food STUCO will come up for us to eat…”

3. “Besides myself, who would I like to win? Caitlin Green for sure. She and I are rooting for each other and we’ve got each other’s back. She’s my bud and I’ll support and encourage her all the way.”

4. “At first, I thought that Senior Survivor would be a walk in the park but even the raising money process is intense. I have a feeling that the challenges this year will be awesome, but even crazier. It’ll definitely be a test for all of us.”

5.“I’ve always had that thought in the back of my mind of wanting to do Senior Survivor, and finally decided to just give it a shot after seeing the fun that my previous Senior Survivor friends had and the difference they made. Michelle Wright was actually the first [person] to tell me that I had made the cut and I was kind of in shock at first. I never thought it’d actually happen, but now that it has, I’m super excited and ready to do this challenge.”

Cal Smith

1. “I am most excited to stay at the school for a week.”
2. “I am least excited for how tired I am going to be.”
3. “I feel my friend, Conor Ruggles, has a good chance to win.”
4. “I feel Senior Survivor is going to be really hard because of how tired everyone will be.”

5. “My reaction was that I was extremely excited for this challenge.”

Matt Sullivan

1. “I’m most excited to compete with my fellow classmates and see what they are bringing to the table. Also, I’m hoping to make some alliances that will take me to the end all in hopes to win.”

2. “I don’t really know what I’m least excited for. I guess a food challenge if it’s nasty enough. I don’t want to eat like a nasty, year old cabbage or something, ha-ha.”
3. “Well, besides myself, I would say the person who will have the most success is Courtney. She’s sweet on the outside but on the inside I could see her being a sneaky, devious player that will make it to the end.”
4. “Well, I think it will test me both mentally and physically, but I think I will be able to win any challenge, and it shouldn’t be too tough.”
5. “My first reaction, well, ‘YAHH BABAYYY, HEY EVERYBODY GUESS WHO JUST MADE SENIOR SURVIVOR… THIS GUY!!’ True story.”