Looking forward to a life helping people

School, community involvement a plus for Albany graduate

Veronica Maus is looking forward to a life helping people.

Her involvement in school activities will be a plus for her in life, as she graduates Friday, May 26, with her 117 Albany Area High School classmates, at Albany High School in Albany. A good student, with aspirations of a veterinary career, she is involved in activities like dance and track. What she really likes are the experiences organizations like FFA and the National Honor Society offer her.

 “It’s cool to be part of different things in the community,” she said. 

As a NHS member, she helped organize the Albany elementary dance, Easter egg hunts, and Christmas season kettle ringing programs at school and water stations for the Lake Wobegon Marathon.

“You can do that with your friends and be part of something larger,” she said.

Maus likes lending her time, efforts and skills in dance and track programs, which allows her the chance to work with and help others.

“With the dance team, we are really close, we are best friends with each other,” she said. “It’s easy to get along and have fun at practices. It doesn’t seem like work.”

Track, though, is different. She works with her teammates for a common goal – though there is more of an individual component.

“In dance, you need everyone on the floor,” she said. “With track, it’s exciting, but you are on your own, unless you’re in a relay.”

Maus competes in hurdles and pole vault on the track and field team. At the May 11 Dave Sieben Invite in Melrose, she was in the top 10 in hurdles and tied for 11th in pole vault. 

In dance, track and field and FFA, she likes working with others and helping them to learn and improve. FFA gives her chances to learn about areas she is considering as a career.

“I plan to go to South Dakota State (University) for animal science,” she said. “It’s cool to learn about that for my proficiency (an area of study in the FFA).”

Working in the veterinary field is something she is seriously considering, but she remains open to other possibilities.

“Being a vet is a goal. I am not superset on it, but it’s where I am reaching,” she said. “I am excited, and SDSU has a good animal science program.”

Her FFA focus has been horses and horsemanship, including horse judging. The daughter of Jon and Lucy Maus, of rural Albany, her family does not have horses, but Maus belongs to the Rocky Riders Saddle Club. 

“I like being around horses and knowing about horses,” she said. “It’s cool to be competing with them or in an event that focuses on that.”

With her fondness for horses, she has found ways to teach, guide, instruct and learn. 

“It’s (judging) cool and exciting to do more with that,” she said. 

She also had a chance to demonstrate her equestrian skills during a donkey basketball game in Albany this year, as a member of the Albany FFA team. 

“It was cool and fun,” Maus said. “That was a perk of being in FFA, but it’s a little strange to have donkeys in a gym.”

She isn’t looking at graduation as the end of something but the springboard of further involvement.

“I definitely will be around and love to be helping with future things,” Maus said.