Top of the Morning, Oct. 9, 2024

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On Wednesdays, we’ll introduce the students who make up Year 9 of High School Confidential, powered by Danville Area Community College. Today: Unity’s Avery Watson.

We knew the do-it-all senior before she was so famous. Avery was a 9-year-old fourth-grader when we worked with her farming dad, Adam Watson, for a video project that followed a kernel of seed corn from start (bag of seed) to finish (store shelf) in 2015.

“Me and my siblings definitely enjoyed spending time riding with our dad during harvest,” she said. “That summer, I learned how to mow, and that was just the start of my journey on learning how to drive farm equipment.”

Today, she’s into a bit of everything at Unity: FFA president, student council vice president, volleyball, band, National Honor Society, homecoming court and 4-H. She’s Student Ambassador for Nutrien Ag Solutions and was named Illinois Farm Bureau’s Actively Engaged Student of the Month for September.

Whew.

“I have been taught from a young age that being a well-rounded person can take you far in life,” she said. “Therefore, I have been encouraged to be involved in many activities and have enjoyed participating in extracurriculars inside and outside of school.

“Without the support of my parents, I definitely would not be able to do everything. I owe a lot of credit to them for the time they’ve spent shuttling me around before I got my license, cheering me on from the sidelines and for helping me balance a busy schedule.”