Senior Stories: Holland Juell

“Holland has been an outstanding leader for our program and will be the Drum Major for the Marching Spartans this summer,” says band director Chad Armbruster. “Holland has invited students to join the group and provides encouragement to help all students feel welcome and valued in our band program.”

Band has had a positive impact on Holland, as well. “My favorite class is Band (and has always been),” she says. “It’s a great ‘family-like’ community where even when things get rough you are always there for each other. You work hard on music and you get to show everyone and be proud of what you’ve accomplished as a group.”

In addition to her accomplishments in band, Holland has challenged herself by taking numerous honors classes throughout high school, as well as enrolling at Normandale Community College as a PSEO student, where she was able to take some classes at Normandale during the day and earn college credits. “It was a lot harder than anticipated, but I learned a lot about myself and how to handle college classes.”

After graduating, Holland plans to attend Kansas State University in the College of Architecture, Planning and Design. With a dream of becoming a commercial architect designer, Holland will be working toward a five-year program to earn a masters in Interior Architecture.

“This field interests me because I spent time learning about commercial interiors on a job shadow during the summer before my junior year,” she explained. “I’d like to work on larger projects like schools, churches, healthcare buildings, or office buildings.”

Holland also plans to pursue a minor in Leadership Studies. She is no stranger to being a leader; Holland has been in Girl Scouts for 13 years, as well as a member of the Richfield Marching Spartans and the fall and winter dance teams at RHS. 

After obtaining her masters, Holland plans to return to the Twin Cities and hopes to find a career here so she can be close to her family and where she grew up. “My family is a group of amazing people,” she explained. “My older brother Logan graduated from Richfield a few years ahead of me in 2018 and I have always been able to rely on him and look up to him. My parents and I are close and they are very supportive through everything I do. I am very grateful for my family who is always by my side cheering me on.”

If Holland could volunteer anywhere, she would continue volunteering with Feed My Starving Children. Her dream travel destination is Iceland, because it’s a beautiful place and somewhere you can see the northern lights.

Holland’s advice to freshmen is sound: “Do your best to not let assignments snowball. All you can do is try your best… you can’t do better than your best, so if you tried your best, that's all you can do.”

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