Edmonds Through the Eyes of a Teenager: Why I love it here

My Edmonds News is pleased to welcome our newest columnist, Edmonds-Woodway High School senior Lily Jaquith.

By Lily Jaquith

In my mind, and in the minds of most of my peers, Edmonds is a small town. I can rarely walk into a grocery store without seeing someone I know. When I was looking at colleges, I wanted to experience the big city and my dream school at one point was the University of Washington. I wanted the fast-paced life. It wasn’t until I sat down and thought about what leaving Edmonds would be like, that I realized how much I love living here.

One of my favorite parts of Edmonds is the friendliness of everyone. The barista at Starbucks knows my order, and I’m not even a regular customer. People will wave and say hi to you on the street, even complete strangers. It’s a nice change from the halls of high school where people barely acknowledge your existence.

I have a huge passion for theater and Edmonds has always been a place filled with wonderful theater experiences for me. I’ve spent much of my youth working with Madrona Children’s Theater, putting on amazing musicals. In Edmonds we are also lucky enough to have a great community theater. I’ve seen many incredible plays and musicals put on by the Driftwood Players.  Theater is a great way to spend my time, whether it’s helping out with MCT’s Spring musical or seeing a play at the Wade James Theater with my friends.

For me, perhaps the best part of living in Edmonds, and going to Edmonds-Woodway High School, is high school sports. While I do not have any interest in playing sports, I love going to football games at the Edmonds School District stadium with all the EWHS fans decked out in their purple and green and cheering for our classmates. Everyone wants the same thing:  to win. It’s one of the few moments where social status is dropped and everyone has a fantastic time with their peers.

While I will be leaving Edmonds in September, I’ll be savoring every moment of time I have left here.

Lily Jaquith is a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School. Next year she plans to go to Western Washington University to study teaching drama and perhaps minor in journalism. She loves working in children’s theater and has been a part of Madrona Children’s Theater for nine years. In her free time, Lily writes for her personal blog and enjoys social networking on Twitter (follow @LilyJaquith).

  1. Lily, a very well written article. Having lived all over the world and in many US states, I can tell you that the world is what you make of it. That the small town feel you speak of can be found anywhere as long as you are open to it. I suspect the Barista remembers you because of who and what you are not because you are in Edmonds. Congratulations on your up coming graduation and best of luck with all your endeavors.

  2. I have yet to get a ‘nice smile’, friendly waves, happy happy time in Edmonds. I’ve lived here long enough to know people.

  3. Your enthusiasm for life obviously reflects back at you here in Edmonds and soon other towns will be blessed. It is people like you that make Edmonds what it is. Thank you for sharing!

  4. Lily. . .I’m so proud of you and so very thankful that I have had the pleasure of working with you both in and out of theatre. You will be a wonderful addition to the WWU Theatre world, but please come back to Edmonds.

  5. Hey Lily – Congrats on WWU next year. I couldn’t be prouder of a former student ! You will be a success in whatever you decide to do. I miss Edmonds, and everyone there, and will be back to visit soon.

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