Christina Johnson has spent much of her middle school and high school years competing on the basketball and volleyball courts, where she said she learned valuable lessons. So, she naturally decided she would try to offer similar experiences by helping coach the middle school volleyball team for her senior project.

“I started playing volleyball when I was in sixth grade, and I did it every year since then,” she said. “I really enjoy the competition and the teamwork. And I wanted to pass some of that on to the younger players and hopefully help generate a passion for the sport with them.”

Throughout her volleyball career, Johnson played as a setter, a position with the primary role of acting as a playmaker, getting the second touch on the ball and setting up a hitter for a scoring strike.

It was while filling that role throughout her competitive years that Johnson said she learned about dealing with pressure and relying on teammates.

“When I’m working with the middle school team, I’m running drills with them, showing them how to set the ball and how to dig. It’s important to learn those things, but I also tell them to remember to have fun,” she said.

“It can get frustrating and they need to learn to shut out the pressure and focus on what’s happening in the moment. You need to pay attention to your team and you can’t worry about what other people are thinking.”

While she drills fundamentals with the middle school athletes, she said she thinks about how those lessons may apply to her future in the career path she has chosen as a nurse.

“I’ll be attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, “she said. “And I will be getting my bachelor’s in nursing. I know that, as a nurse, it’s important to work as a team with the rest of the medical staff.”

Johnson said she has always been interested in having a health care career, as the nature of the work appeals to her and she has numerous family members in Arizona who have worked as nurses.

“My relatives have given me good advice about nursing, and some of them work as traveling nurses,” she said. “I think I might want to be a traveling nurse, too. There are a lot of opportunities for that, and I really love to travel. I want to live in Arizona, but I would also like to live in Florida.”

While she plans to travel and work in different locations, Johnson said she does plan to return home to Wrangell.

“I can see me coming home during breaks in schooling to work as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) or something. And I know that SEARHC has some really good incentives for nurses to work here,” she said. “And it’s just like in volleyball, where it’s important to make good contacts and have a strong support group.”

As she prepares to trade the close-knit community of the island for the larger landscape of Arizona, Johnson is emphasizing a mindset of positive focus — both for herself and the students she coaches.

“Negativity is something I see a lot of in sports,” she said. “You just really need to focus on working hard and putting a good support system together at the same time.”

For the underclassmen following in her footsteps, her advice is to start looking ahead early.

“It’s good to start thinking about what you want to be early on and start doing things that can help make it all real,” Johnson said. “It will benefit you a lot later on in life and it can reduce future pressure.”