Vanessa Barnes paints a handmade cup in the high school art classroom on March 26, a much different pastime than her senior project of helping to coach the middle school and peewee wrestling teams.
Vanessa Barnes is comfortable letting go.
Since she was 5 years old, the high school senior called the wrestling mat home. For her senior project, Barnes was able to share that sense of home with wrestlers on the middle school team and in the peewee program. For the project, she teamed up with fellow high school senior standout Della Churchill.
"I planned it before," Barnes said, standing in the back room of the high school art department as she painted a handmade ceramic cup. "I've always done wrestling, and I like working with kids, so I thought it would be a good thing to do for my last project."
Barnes said coaching the middle schoolers was a tad easier because they already had a wrestling foundation to build upon, but she added that seeing the peewee kids come into their own was a joy to watch.
After she graduates this spring, she wants to become a certified nurse assistant and work at the Wrangell Medical Center for three or four years. When she's ready to move on, she's already got Montana in her sights. But until then, she'll stay in town.
"There's a lot of people that I know that love working at the hospital," she said. "Also, nursing is a cool experience, so I feel like that'd be a great opportunity."
"When will you know it's time to leave," I asked. "Probably once I realize I don't want to be here anymore," she answered.
This theme kept popping up with Barnes, who is the third of six kids in her family: the idea that once a chapter is closed, it's alright that it's closed. She doesn't want to stay close to wrestling, she doesn't want to coach it or wrestle casually. That chapter of her life ended. So, for her, it's over. There's no point in holding on.
That's the same mindset for her time in Wrangell. She's thrilled and grateful and happy to be here right now, but the moment that changes, she's not letting herself divert from what she wants. And if what she wants is to work as a dental hygienist in Montana, then Barnes is probably going to find a way to do it.
That said, she is still a little nervous for when the time eventually comes to move south.
"Probably branching out of Wrangell," she said in response to a question about her fears. "That's a fear. And leaving everyone I know. That will definitely hit me once I leave."
The people of Wrangell are not just folks that Barnes will miss when she leaves town. They're also people that motivate her every day, in all aspects of her life.
"I want to have a good life, so that motivates me," she said. "My family motivates me, this community, my coach Jack Carney and my siblings ... a big thank you to all those people."
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