Berne Union senior Hannah Motta faced an unexpected challenge in her final year of school

SUGAR GROVE — Most high school students face a variety of challenges in their four years of study. But Berne Union High School senior Hannah Motta overcame an especially difficult challenge.

She suffered a concussion in motor vehicle crash right before the school year started, but has now mostly recovered.

"I've been through a lot my senior year," Motta said. "It started off a little rocky but we came through and finished strong. It was very rough at the start."

She missed playing volleyball and basketball, but was able to partake in track this spring. Track is her main sport and she throws shot and discus.

Motta will graduate with a 3.5 grade point average.

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"My grades struggled at the beginning," she said. "But I had amazing teachers help me out through the process. There were a couple weeks at school where I couldn't do anything. I was just listening in school, I couldn't look at anything. So I really had to pay attention and get that extra help that I needed to get my grades back up to where they needed to be for graduation."

Motta's injury prevented her from doing anything visually, like taking notes or looking at screens.

"I had classmates that would help me or teachers that would write for me and I got my work turned in that way," she said.

Based on her own experience, Motta advises incoming freshman to not stress themselves out.

"Things to do get better as you get going," she said. "That was my biggest struggle, was stressing out too much and freaking out. So keep calm and everything will work its way out."

Motta will attend Ohio University in Athens this fall and study early-childhood education.

"I want to be a teacher because in grade school I struggled a little bit to start out with," she said. "Having teachers help me get through school was always a cool thing to me. Making that impact on kids' lives is really cool and I want to be that person for them."

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Motta said she will miss her high school days a lot upon graduation.

"My friends and just the school itself because I've gone there all my life," she said. "It's a small school and the community around the school, I think I'll miss the most."

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Berne Union's Hannah Motta had unexpected challenge in her final year