When senior year hits, it is typical for students to panic about their impending adult life and scramble to figure out how to best prepare for their future. Senior Mason Johannes, however, has everything already figured out. From interning at a law firm to committing and practicing bowling with Baker University, Johannes is further into adulthood than the majority of students at De Soto High School.

Johannes began her journey into law long before she started her internship at Jeffers Law Office this past year.

“Actually he [Johannes’ brother] was a lot of the reason why I wanted to. I used to want to go into architecture. Then I started going to his court cases and I thought they were really interesting … the way they come up with punishments. There’s just so many different ways they can go about the process,” Johannes said. 

Her internship began when she got in touch with her parents’ divorce lawyer.

“You have to have a mentor through college, so I’m pretty sure he’ll [Mark Jeffers] just be my mentor,” Johannes said. “That’s the only one [firm] I’ve interned for, but there’s a lot of people in my family that are corporate lawyers, so I’ll probably just shadow them.”

Johannes’ day-to-day routine at the law firm consists of listening in on people’s legal situations.

“There’s a lot of privacy restrictions. So basically he [Jeffers] will contact them [the clients] ahead of time and be like ‘hey there is going to be this random girl going’… and I’ll usually sit on his side [in court], but at the back because I can’t be with him,” Johannes said. “But I basically just watch and take notes about what’s going on.”

Although Johannes is unsure exactly what kind of law she wants to go into, she knows she would prefer to work in criminal law over civil.

“I don’t want to do civil. That is so boring,” Johannes joked. “It’s just a silent room and the judge asks ‘did you agree on this?’ and it’s like ‘yeah.’”

When Johannes is not interning at Jeffers Law Office, she is practicing with the Baker University bowling team.

“It wasn’t one of their official practices but I went to their practice. . .I have to start doing wrist workouts. I didn’t realize that much went into it,” Johannes said.

Johannes’ bowling career started long before high school, all the way back in her family’s history.

“My dad never bowled in high school, but he bowled growing up. My parents go to national tournaments. . . last year they did the one in Las Vegas, which is a really big one,” Johannes said.

Despite always being around bowling, she was not always interested in it.

“My whole family is a bunch of bowlers. I used to bowl when I was really young, but then I went 10 years without touching a bowling ball because I was like ‘this sucks,’” Johannes said. “I’ve just always been around bowling, especially since my dad owns Park Lanes and I currently work there.”

Teammate Maddie Calvello—also a Baker commit—admits that Johannes has influenced her as a player.

“As a friend, it’s super helpful because she can yell at me when I’m doing bad,” Calvello said. “Mason got her scholarship and then I started freaking out because that’s my dream. Then she gave me the coach’s number and that’s kind of how that started.”

Johannes’ bowling career has been very successful, with taking the team to State her first year on the team.

In Johannes’ free time, she enjoys using her past cooking knowledge from DHS’s culinary program to cook different foods.

“I actually do a lot of cooking at the bowling alley [Park Lanes]. You get two certifications out of the class, your serve-safe one that basically says you know how to keep things sanitized and wash dishes, then you get one for completing the pro-start course itself, which basically says you know how to be a manager of a restaurant. So I have those two industry certifications … so basically I know both ends of the restaurant.”

Although the culinary program at DHS may not have been everything Johannes had expected, cooking will forever be a favorite pastime, if not a career path.

“I first joined for it to be a fun thing, but then I joined the competition team and it was actually a really cool experience. Even though it wasn’t what I expected, I got a lot out of it,” Johannes said.

Johannes will continue to enjoy her time here at DHS while preparing for her fast-approaching future, whether it be with one of her many passions: law, bowling or cooking.