High school counselors tell their freshmen students to find a niche—something that will make their high school experience special. Although there are many clubs and activities at school, many students at South have found a hobby that exists outside of South .

Junior Connor Watson is a collector; he finds baseball interesting and started a collection of baseball cards and autographs. According to Watson, his dad helped him start a collection of baseball cards over a decade ago, and he has recently revisited his passion for this collection.

“My growing understanding of baseball made this a perfect hobby for me,” Watson said.

According to Watson, his collection is primarily of Chicago Cubs players. He says that he enjoys collecting players’ rookie cards. He recently started a collection of a Cubs prospect Albert Almora and owns over 30 different cards of just him.

“I find it exciting to guess which players will one day become superstars,” Watson said. “It’s not as fun to see the duds though.”

Along with collecting baseball cards, Watson also collects autographs of players. According to Watson, he was able to schedule an interview with a Cubs player named Pierce Johnson. He went to the game, saw Johnson pitch, and afterwards went for the interview.

“When I told him I was Connor Watson from WGBK Radio, he had no idea I was just a kid,” Watson said. “He signed a card I had for him and I gave him my ticket from the game for him to keep. We’ve stayed close friends and I was able to talk to him again at the Cubs Convention.”

Unlike many card and autograph collectors, Watson has no intention of ever selling his collection.

“I think it’s unfair to the player when you get something signed just to turn around and sell it for a profit,” Watson said. “I hope to one day hand the collection down to my kids so that they can appreciate it as much as I do.”

Similar to Watson, senior Joseph Varughese also owns a collection: a shoe collection. According to Varughese he has only started collecting recently.

“[I started my collection] when I bought the [Air Jordan] Laney 5s,” Varughese said. “After that my brother got me some [Jordan] Fire Red 5s for Christmas.”

Many shoe enthusiasts will trade shoes for either cash or in return for a different type of shoe. Varughese, however, doesn’t enjoy doing this. According to Varughese he is starting a small collection and has never traded shoes before.

“I’ve only sold [a pair of shoes] once,” Varughese said.

Rather than starting a collection, Freshman Dasha German has found a different type of hobby: filming and editing home movie projects. According to German, she often films her family vacations and returns to it to edit and add commentary.

“It’s a long process but it’s worth it in the end,” German said.

The process can take over four months to complete, according to German. She also makes home music videos.

“It started off as a joke between my friends [and I],” German said. “Later, I realized that I wanted to make it more serious and I have a plan for a bigger production this summer.”

German participates in South’s broadcasting classes, and plans on continuing all the way to Advanced TV by the end of her sophomore year.

“I like to film because it is the way I express myself,” German said.