Class of 2026: Forest Hills senior builds confidence on stage and direction in civic life

At Forest Hills High School, Oliver Jenkins found his place on stage and developed an interest in civic engagement in the classroom.

Through chorus and musical theater, he grew more comfortable performing and collaborating on stage.

That growth came after a period of adjustment years earlier, when he moved from Arizona to North Carolina at the end of seventh grade and had to rebuild friendships in a new environment.

“The biggest thing really was I just had to find my people again,” he said.

He began doing that through the arts.

Summer Parks, who teaches chorus and musical theater at Forest Hills, said Oliver’s progress has been clear throughout his time in the program.

“Oliver has grown incredibly as a musician, as an incredible music maker,” Parks said. “He’s developed as a leader in our program.”

Parks said chorus builds confidence through shared performance.

“It’s never about you by yourself,” she said. “It’s always us in a group and learning together. Choir is a team sport.”

That environment helped Oliver grow into a more confident performer.

After initially questioning whether he belonged on stage, he took on roles including Fester in The Addams Family and Catherine Parr in Six.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it at first,” he said of Six. “But once we started rehearsing, I really got into it.”

In AP Government, Oliver said Bryan Rudolph’s interactive teaching style and class presentations helped him become more comfortable speaking in front of others and sparked his interest in political science.

That experience helped him connect classroom discussions to real-world decision-making and reinforced his interest in the field.

He said one of the most engaging parts of the class was a mock court case activity, where students argued real legal cases on opposing sides and reached a verdict as a class jury.

“That was really engaging,” he said. “It helped me understand how a decision process like that actually works.”

He also connects that interest to an unexpected influence—Transformers.

Oliver said the franchise’s storytelling and themes around leadership and society helped shape how he thinks about the world.

“The comics especially have a very political story to it,” he said. “You can relate a lot of the things that happen there to what we’re going through today.”

Now ranked No. 10 in his graduating class, Oliver plans to attend Wingate University, where he will study political science and participate in the university’s Law Dawgs program.

Looking back, Oliver said the biggest change is how he sees himself.

“I’m a lot more open,” he said, adding that his parents were surprised by how outgoing he has become compared to eighth grade. “I’m a lot happier than I was before.”

That shift from hesitation to voice now shapes how he approaches his future in political science and public service.