Red Bay’s Lourenco plans nursing career
Editor’s Note: Franklin’s Future is a regular feature spotlighting a high school senior in Franklin County and what they have planned for life after graduation.
Recent Red Bay graduate Adrienne Lourenco was involved in several activities during her high school career that helped her develop her leadership skills.
Lourenco, 18, said she was involved with Health Occupation Students of America, where she had the opportunity to participate in competitions, and she helped her group win first place in the community awareness category.
But she said the organization that she felt like she benefited from the most in terms of leadership was Future Farmers of America.
“We were able to do a lot of leadership activities through FFA,” she said. “The leadership conferences we went to and the trips we took to places like Indianapolis were probably my favorite high school memories. I got to do these things with people I’ve grown up going to school with, but it also helped me find out who I am. I’m more outgoing now than I used to be.”
Lourenco said she has attended Red Bay School since kindergarten, so she will miss seeing her friends and teachers that she’s grown close to over the years.
“Red Bay just had a good environment and it was a good place to go to school,” she said. “I’ll miss it, but I’m also looking forward to a new environment at college and meeting new people.”
Lourenco said her experiences with HOSA are what prepared her for the career she wants to have.
This fall, she said she is planning to attend Northwest-Shoals Community College and eventually be part of the nursing program.
“I was in HOSA since the 10th grade,” she said. “Mrs. Hargett really helped me realize that nursing is something I could handle and be good at.
“Some people just go into nursing for the money, but I think it’s one of those professions where you should really care about it if you’re going to do it. I like helping people get better, so I would care about what I was doing.”
Once she graduates and is ready to settle down, Lourenco said realistically she would probably see herself living in the Shoals area.
“The Shoals is not a huge place, but it’s not so small that I wouldn’t have job opportunities or things to do,” she said. “I also have family who lives there.”
Lourenco said her family includes her grandmother, Sandra Shewbart, and her mom, Beth Beaver.
In her spare time, Lourenco said she enjoys reading, hanging out with friends and trying her hand at acting in a few plays at the Red Bay Arts and Entertainment Center.
“I’ve been in two different plays, ‘See How They Run’ and ‘I Remember Mama,’” she said. “Being in those plays was a fun experience because I got to try something new and meet other people.
