On June 21, 302 seniors at Mission Bay High School (MBHS) will start a new chapter of their young lives and MBHS valedictorian Marlee Glasgow is closing the book on four years strongly tied to her local community. “When you’re a part of your community school, you’re more likely to participate in events after school and outside of class,” Glasgow said. “The sense of community is definitely higher.” Glasgow has lived in Pacific Beach since birth and attended Kate Sessions Elementary and Pacific Beach Middle schools before MBHS. While some of her friends and neighbors opted for schools in other areas after eighth grade, Glasgow stayed at home. “It’s different,” Glasgow said of her experience at MBHS. “It’s not as isolated as other schools. It’s a lot more like real life than being in a bubble. I’m glad I stayed here.” While at Mission Bay, Glasgow played volleyball for all four years, varsity water polo for her first three years and even tried her hand at badminton this past year. In the classroom, her favorite subject is English, noting “Brave New World” as a recent read. “I enjoy going in-depth on books,” Glasgow said, “seeing stuff that you wouldn’t really see elsewhere or understand just reading it by yourself.” On campus, Glasgow served as president of the Interact Club, a community service organization that volunteered on community projects around Pacific Beach. That community service was part of the International Baccalaureate program curriculum, in which she was one of six seniors to receive a full diploma. This fall, Glasgow will move away from Pacific Beach for the first time in her life when she attends the University of Colorado at Boulder. While the Colorado cold weather might be an issue, Glasgow, who created the Ski and Snowboard Club at Mission Bay High, won’t have any problem with the Rocky Mountains. “My family has always gone up to the mountains,” Glasgow said. “My dad is into action sports, so we do that in the winter and wakeboard in the summer.” Though not ready to speculate on a future career, Glasgow said she plans to study communications at Colorado. She feels that with social networking and the Internet, her generational peers are slowly losing the ability to effectively communicate. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to talk to people in person and it’s important to know how to do that,” Glasgow said. As Glasgow prepares to leave the sand for the slopes, she also plans to come back to Pacific Beach whenever she gets the chance. When she thinks of her hometown, she thinks of a drive down Garnet Avenue. “It’s a total beach town,” she said. “It’s a cool, chill place where people ride around on bikes with their shirts off in flip-flops and bare feet, and no matter what the weather is, you always see someone in shorts or flip-flops.”