Throughout high school, everyday was a family reunion for one senior and she says she has loved every minute of it.

Being in school with just one sibling can be competitive and complicated enough, but for this senior, everyday of her high school career has seemed like a constant family reunion walking down the hallways.

With her “extended family [being] really big in Lake Zurich,” Maddie Roach, senior, said she “probably had a way different experience than most freshmen.”

“Walking down the halls I saw everyone I knew all the time.  My brother’s friends were my cousins friends also, so they really knew me.  Any hallway I walked down I would hear my name being called or at football games I would hear my name being sometimes chanted, sometimes booed,” Roach said.  “I would definitely say that it was one of my favorite things of my high school career: being in school with that much of my family.  It was awesome.”

Roach was going to have to live up to her two siblings’ reputations since she went into freshmen year of high school. However, Kim Roach, Maddie’s mom, though she wouldn’t have a problem being successful.  

“I think it was huge when she walked into high school as a freshman and she knew seniors and juniors and they knew her.  When she walked in and a bunch of senior boys were like, ‘Hey, little Roach.  Hey, Maddie!’  I think that set the tone for her whole high school career.  She may not think that, but I think that she felt an instant sense of ‘I belong here,’” Kim said.

Maddie has felt instant comfort since beginning to attend the high school and says if she had the chance to change her situation for a so-called “normal one” her response would be “definitely not.”

“I definitely love it and would not want it any other way.  Going to school with all of your cousins is definitely the best thing ever.  There’s nothing to compare it to,” Maddie said.  “One thing that’s different than most families is that literally your family, you cousins, your uncles, your aunts, and you grandparents, they know everything that happens to you and everything about you faster than you could even imagine.”

With her siblings’ knowledge of high school being passed down to Maddie, she says “it was like a passageway into things.”

“Obviously I had to follow in their footsteps with grades because they’re both really intelligent students, but that was also just because I wanted to do that, not because they were like that,” Maddie said.  “I never really felt pressured because my parents always reminded me that ‘you’re your own person,’ but I definitely liked having them there because that kind of acted like a role model.”

Though there was slight pressure when Maddie decided on which college was best for her, Maddie chose the right college for her and happens to be following suit, attending University of Illinois as well.

“I sort of felt pressured to go to the same college as them.  The fact that [both of my siblings and parents went there] played a role in it.  I didn’t let that be the only reason that I’m going there or that it’d be ‘I have to go where they’re going.’  I was told I could go other places,” Maddie said.

Maddie said she “just knew” it was her college she would attend because when she received the acceptance letter “it was a different feeling than any of the other schools I got accepted into.”  

“I don’t know any other way to live so that’s just what my life has always been: surrounded by my cousins.  It’s literally the greatest thing ever.”