A new level of comfort for Julia Sanders will take time and patience.

While recently driving to Kokomo for an open gym with her new collegiate volleyball teammates, the Triton Central High School Class of 2022 valedictorian recognized how much her life is changing.

“I was driving up there and I realized I was so far from my friends,” said Sanders. “Once I got out of practice and looked at my phone I was thinking about all my friends back home. It’s weird to think about it but change has to happen and I am excited for it.”

Sanders will attend Indiana University Kokomo to study Health Sciences and continue her volleyball career. She is Triton Central volleyball’s career leader in digs and service aces and will join a college program that finished 28-8 in 2021 and made its seventh-straight NAIA tournament appearance.

“It was so fun,” said Sanders of her first college volleyball experience. “I was so nervous but excited to play with everyone … but so nervous. I’m just a little freshman and didn’t know how it was going to go.

“The girls run the practices and the coach is just there to talk to. The seniors pretty much run the practice. It was a lot of scrimmaging. It was really hard play. It was a different level than playing in high school. And it’s a different level than playing club volleyball.”

Sanders was informed she was ranked No. 1 in her graduating class as a freshman. She found that surprising considering she did not give it much thought while in middle school.

Then came Biology.

“I was really tested my freshman year in Biology because everyone has a hard time in that class because it’s really rigorous,” she explained. “I ended up with an ‘A’ and I figured if I can do this, everyone said freshman year Biology was really hard, and if I can get through it with a ‘A’ I should be fine.”

That made maintaining her top ranking a realistic goal.

 “My junior year, I knew there would be a lot more difficult classes,” she said. “That was a lot more studying every night and I was busier as an athlete. That year taught me how to time manage.”

By March of her senior year, she was informed she would indeed be the valedictorian. With that honor came the responsibility of speaking at TC’s graduation ceremony.

Sanders, the daughter of Vince and Jill Sanders, did not find the public speaking overwhelming after years of playing sports. However, she found sitting on the stage throughout the ceremony daunting.

“I wasn’t as nervous giving the speech,” she said. “I was nervous sitting on the stage the whole ceremony. I didn’t want to look bored up there.”

Officially a high school graduate now, Sanders realizes life is changing after so many days traveling back and forth to Triton Central.

For more on Sanders' signing with IU Kokomo: https://shelbycountypost.com/sports/609183

“It’s weird that I am not coming (to Triton Central) for practice,” she said. “When club volleyball was over, that was really hard too. I’ve traveled so many places and met so many cool people.

“Now I get to do that again in college and I am grateful for that.”

Sanders’ ultimate goal is to get her degree in Health Sciences and then continue school to become a physician’s assistant.

(This is the first in a 10-part series highlighting the Class of 2022 valedictorians and salutatorians from the five Shelby County high schools.)