Kentridge’s Campbell encourages incoming students to get involved | District’s great grads

Editor’s note: The Kent Reporter is showcasing standout graduates from each of Kent’s four high schools.

When Shelby Campbell was adopted from China at 7 years old, she didn’t speak English.

“I felt bad for my parents because it was a hard process,” the Kentridge High School senior said of her parents, Sara and Greg Campbell. “Can you imagine having a kid that doesn’t speak English and you don’t know Chinese?”

But Campbell quickly picked up the new language.

“I think since I was younger it made it a little bit easier to learn English, but I lost Chinese really fast,” she said. “That came as the price of trying to learn English really fast.”

Learning English isn’t the only challenge, Campbell has overcome. She was born without a right hand.

“My family taught me from the beginning don’t let it bring you down,” she said. “I had really good family support about it. They never babied me, which was nice because going into real life that is not how life is.”

Campbell learned to adapt well to only having one hand, including finding ways to do her job at Little Caesars Pizza.

“We have to take the pizzas out of the oven,” she said. “There’s two tools for it, and I couldn’t do it at first but one day when (the owners and other employees) weren’t looking, we have these gloves and I just took one of the gloves and somehow found a way (to get the pizza out). So (the owner) was like, ‘That’s really cool that you did that.’ ”

During her time at Kentridge, Campbell ran track and cross country and was captain of both teams her senior year.

“I like running because it just clears your mind,” she said. “When you have a stressful day, when you have long runs you just run and it just makes you feel better. I like that since it is long distance. When we have easier workouts, you can just talk to your friends.”

In the fall, Campbell plans to attend Green River College and run cross country and track. She wants to get an associate’s degree in business and transfer to a four-year university to pursue a degree in accounting.

Taking a financial algebra class got Campbell interested in accounting.

“I am really glad I took that class this year,” she said. “We’re learning about taxes and how to input numbers into the computer.”

While at Kentridge, Campbell was a part of Link Leadership, which pairs upperclassman with incoming freshman to help them adjust to high school.

“They had us to try to get them involved because it is high school,” she said. “You don’t want them to have any regrets and have good memories. I feel like as a younger kid to have an upperclassman say, ‘Come to the football game’ or stuff like that was really cool.

When I was a freshman it was really cool see that we had upperclassmen that helped you out, so it was really fun to help out the underclassmen.”

Campbell’s older brother, Alexander “Sasha” Campbell, who was adopted from Russia, was a senior at Kentridge when she was a freshman.

“It was intimidating going into the school, but seeing him in the hallway, it just made me feel better,” she said.

Campbell’s advice to incoming freshman: Get involved.

“Don’t be shy,” she said. “People get scared in new environments. I still do, too, but there are so many nice people. We have so many clubs. It is so easy to get involved. There are so many opportunities, so just take advantage of it all.”