Dear Maci,

I have almost made it to the end of high school! There is one month
left. This year has definitely been an eye opening and motivational
year for me. At the beginning of this year we came back to school
fully after being either online fully or half in person. So there was
definitely an adjustment period, that is actually still happening to
be honest. I have learned that I need to be the one to motivate
myself for my personal needs. There have been times where I was
unsure of myself with my friends, future self, future goals, and
ultimately my life decisions for college and my career. After taking
the time to reflect and working on myself I have decided that the
best thing for me is to continue my education to reach my goal that
I have always had.

Ultimately this year has been extremely beneficial although it may

have not always seemed to be that way. I have had many concerns
about my future about my career plans. After really looking into my
choices I am now more confident about it. I have also been working
over my fear of speaking to new people. I used to get super anxious
in social situations with people I did not know. I have been working
on it and have gotten a lot better but this is something that I am
going to continue to work on. This year I have also had some friend
group changes. I have decided that it is more important to me to
have one really great friend rather than a bunch of mediocre friends
that don’t really care about you. Many kids and individuals in this
world are very selfish and irresponsible, and that is something that
I want to stay away from because they will be the ones to inhibit
what I can do.

My life is about to change for the better even though it is going to be

a huge adjustment. I am currently living in a neighborhood home
that I have lived in my whole life. My neighborhood has many new
families with young children and is not as nice as it used to be. My
bedroom is painted a gray blue color and used to have my show
banners on the walls but it has nothing in it now because we are
moving at the end of June. I have three dogs, my personal favorite
being my 1 year old black lab Kimber that we use for hunting, a
dachshund, and a chug. I wear jeans and boots just about everyday
because of my livestock. On the weekends I wear shorts, tank tops,
and sandals because I am on the boat deckhanding for fishing
guides on the river. Lastly during the week after school I work at a
vet so I wear scrubs.

Throughout my high school career I have had many individuals that

have played a huge role in who I am and where I am today. The first
person that I have so much appreciation for is my livestock trainer
Jordan Baumgartner. He is the Purina West Coast Representative
who has been helping me since I was in eighth grade. These past
years I have been super successful with showing livestock, winning
supreme champion market lamb every year except for one. Because
of him, if I decide to not continue with vet school I will become a
Purina Rep as well. The next person that I would like to talk about is
my best friend Nicole. We have known eachother since I was in
eighth grade and she was a freshman, but we became friends my
freshman year. We actually did not like each other at first but as we
got to know eachother better we have now become inseparable. She
has been here for me in all the good and bad times that I have had.
The last person that I am going to mention is my ag teacher that I
had for two years Ms. Herrera. She was the one that pushed me to
put myself out there more and gave me the confidence boost that I
needed.

There are so many different directions that my life could go in once

I graduate but I will just tell you about the way I think it will go and
the way I hope. I predict that once I finish up my undergraduate
degree in animal science at Cal Poly SLO I will attend UC Davis vet
school to earn my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. I then will
be doing relief veterinary work. I would also like to get married
between the age of 26 and 28 since I will graduate vet school when I
am 26. I want to have two kids by the age of 32 with my husband. I
will be living either in California or wherever life takes me at that
time.

I am currently 18 years old so I have 32 years to fulfill my bucket list

by the time I am 50. I have 10 items on my list. My first item is to
travel all over Europe, these countries include Germany, Austria,
and Switzerland because I am 99.6% European. My family is known
for having many different cancer encounters. My grandpa has had 6
different types of cancer multiple times each since the age of 28, so
I would like to become a donor to cancer research primarily
including bone and prostate cancer. Next is to go on a backpacking
hunting trip in Canada for elk with my dad. I have been obsessed
with baseball since I was a little girl so I would like to become a
season ticket holder for my favorite team. To add on once I become
established in my career I would like to have my own ranch with
livestock. While on the topic of career and being successful I would
eventually like to buy my parents new vehicles since they have
worked hard to be able to provide a new car for me when I started
driving. For excitability reasons my last 4 bucket list items are
going skydiving, deep sea diving, snowboarding in Colorado and
Switzerland, and lastly to be a passenger in a Blue Angels plane.

I am now at the end of my high school and public education career.

This is a scary and important time in my life. But I am super excited
to see what the future holds for me as I begin college at Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo and start my path to becoming a veterinarian. Although
there may have been some challenging times throughout the past
12 years it all worked out.

Sincerely,
Maci Lechtaler

P.S. : Remember to stay confident in yourself and it will all work

out.