Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High around 45F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible..
Tonight
Cloudy and windy this evening, becoming partly cloudy after midnight. Low 27F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
SCHALMONT - Kallissa Vassello has always wanted to help people.
It’s a value she learned early on from her parents and it’s what drove her to spend hundreds of hours volunteering with the City Mission of Schenectady, Red Cross and a seemingly countless other number of nonprofits and school clubs outside her hectic class schedule at Schalmont High School.
“I think that my parents kind of pushed me to seize every opportunity I can to help other people,” Vassello said. “Even when I was little, I was going to soup kitchens. And I mean, they kind of are the reason why I'm working so hard in school and out of school, and just becoming a better person is kind of how they led by example.”
For the past four years, Vassello has pushed herself in and outside the classroom in hopes of pursuing a career in the medical field after graduating high school. She will be doing just that when she starts classes at the University of New England in Maine to study dentistry this fall.
Before moving on to the next chapter, Vassello said she has taken more than a few moments to reflect on her time at Schalmont — a place she called “an awesome environment” filled with “so many great teachers.”
It’s also the place where Vassello said she learned to be herself and gained values that she will carry with her for the rest of her life from teachers that challenged her in the classroom and teammates she led for two years as captain of the varsity volleyball team.
“These teachers have had such an impact on me and shaped the person who I am,” she said.
Vassello never shied away from the challenging classes, preferring instead to take advanced placement and college-level courses to earn her place as a member of the National Honor Society and Art Honor Society.
The challenge, she said, not only prepared her for college but gave her a sense of accomplishment.
“I feel like I’ve done better after I’m challenged more,” Vassello said. “I feel more successful, more proud of myself when I do something challenging and I get through it.”
Vassello credits her parents for her success and said the hardest part of going to college in the fall will be moving away from family. She has a 14-year-old brother entering high school in September — a transition that Vassello said she will be sorry to miss.
“I definitely will be missing my family a lot,” Vassello said. “Most of my time is spent with my family, and my mom, especially, she's like, my biggest supporter.”
But Vassello said she’s ready to dive into her next chapter and is looking forward to meeting new people and challenges in college.
The University of New England has a small hands-on dental program that Vassello said she’s excited to begin. The eight-year program includes four years of undergraduate studies and another for years of post-graduate work on a picturesque campus in central Maine.
Vassello said she always wanted to be a doctor, but was undecided what field she would enter even after hours of researching everything from physical therapy to general practice.
She finally settled on dentistry about a year ago after she spent an afternoon shadowing her own dentist — an experience she “loved.”
