Don’t be fooled when you see a senior’s name, Katie Matthews, on the Junior Varsity Girls' Water Polo roster. She’s a fierce competitor, a great friend and nice person. Her junior year, she was in Spain for foreign a exchange program so she was unable to join Varsity sports her senior year.

Matthews loved her entire team. She felt the season they had was “awesome—probably my favorite so far. The whole team really bonded and all of us got to be really close.” That is Matthews in a nutshell. She loves sports, but it seems like she enjoys the company of her friends even more. “I think our team did great this year. The only disappointment was missing CIF by one win,” Matthews explained. She wanted to continue competing in water polo for the love of the sport, but also, as aforementioned, because she wanted to spend more time so close to all of her friends.

However, there were some extreme high points in the season. “The biggest win of the season was against Tesoro. They are ranked extremely high in Orange County and [we] pulled out a victory” she happily remarks. She also explained that the game was filled with intense action, and it was close all the way until the end when Beckman pulled through. Matthews’ most disappointing loss of the season came against El Modena. “Two years ago we beat them. But last season and this season we weren’t able to close the deal. We almost came away with the win, but El Modena finished strong,” Matthews says frustrated.

Matthews also has some great memories in water polo. “My favorite memory in water polo was the lock-in. For the first day of water polo season, everyone had a sleepover on the pool deck and stayed up late talking.” She continued, “it was a fun way to start the season and get everyone comfortable around everyone else,” Matthews reminisced. Not only has water polo been memorable for Matthews, but her experience at Beckman has been as well. “All three years at Beckman were great. Freshman and sophomore years were exciting because I was new and didn’t know much. Senior year has been great because of the freedom and all the activities we will enjoy,” she happily explains.

Matthews realizes, though, that her high school career is about over. Over summer, her family will vacation in Hawaii before saying goodbye to the foreign exchange student they pulled in this year, Rosario Villar Ballesteros. Ballesteros will be going back to Spain, and Matthews will miss her a lot. Matthews also has plans to go to college at University of California at Santa Barbara, where she will study political science in the honors program.

Though Matthews is unsure of what she wants to become later in life, she does want to dedicate herself to volunteer work for UNICEF or conservation corps. Matthews also wants to pursue some more oversees education. She hasn’t ruled out studying abroad sometime in her college career.

As for the incoming freshmen, Matthews' advice is to “take advantage of all that high school has to offer and get involved in as many sports and activities as they can. All these different connections can lead to new friends and experiences.”