Ava Beard has been a part of Berkley High School athletics since her freshman year of high school. Ava started off her high school athletic career strong, making varsity for volleyball and basketball her freshman year. Ava thinks everything that was achieved in the past four years was definitely a team effort. Although she feels this way, she also believes she puts in a lot of effort to keep the volleyball team together. She backs up that claim with, “I kept the team calm in chaos when things got rowdy, and people got stressed.” Ava was extremely dedicated to Berkley athletics throughout high school. Ava explains, “Berkley athletics has kind of been my whole high school experience. The amount of time I spent in the gym taught me a lot.” With this time in the gym, she learned that she could never give up, and the growth that came out of these sports. Without Berkley athletics, Ava believes she wouldn’t be playing volleyball in college next year. Although Ava has many memories stemming from sports, her favorite memories came from junior year volleyball. She loved the team, they won districts, and they went to regional finals. Ava advises any aspiring athletes to, “Just believe in yourself, it’s all you can really do.” Ava is looking forward to continuing her volleyball career at Saginaw Valley State University.