HAVENWOOD FALLS — Today we introduce you to Havenwood Falls High senior Serena Alverson as part of our series of spotlights on this year’s graduating class. Alverson has big plans for her future, but if her story in The Fall by Kristen Yard has any truth to it, she may be rethinking those plans. Only time will tell (and perhaps the sequel to The Fall, releasing April 6, 2018).
Tell us about yourself – e.g., who are you, what do you do for work, favorite subject in school, what do you do for fun?
I’m Serena Alverson. I help my Aunt Odette and her friend Simon run our family business, the Fallview Tavern & Grill, during evenings and weekends. I love art and English. My favorite things to do are drawing by the waterfall in our backyard, hanging out with my best friends Nikki Morris and Logan Andrews, shopping at Callie’s with Nikki, for fun vintage finds that we can go home and Frankenstein into something else. I also like to make jewelry, spend time with my aunt and sisters, and help take care of my mama. She’s sick, so I like to read to her and just sit with her and draw to keep her company, although I am not always sure she knows I am there…
What is something unexpected that most people don’t know about you?
On the surface, I suppose people see a quiet girl. I am more of an observer than a talker in public. They see me help my family with my sick mama and help run the business, while doing well at school. But… there’s a side of myself that scares me. I am mad that my mama seems to have given up on us, I’m mad that Daddy died. I’m pissed that Aunt Odette keeps trying to talk me out of the only thing that has kept me going for as far back as I can remember—my dream to leave Havenwood Falls and study art overseas during college. She has been pushing hard lately to take that away from me, and I am barely keeping the rage under the surface. Sometimes it feels like my anger has a life of its own.
What do you love about living in Havenwood Falls? What frustrates you most?
I love how beautiful it is here. I can’t stand how people are so into everyone else’s business. I crave living somewhere full of strangers. I also don’t like how limited life here really is.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
I would live out of a backpack in Europe for a year or two, to figure out where I want to end up, as I study art. That’s secretly the plan, no matter what Aunt Odette says. It’s my life.
Where’s your favorite place to hang out in Havenwood Falls and why?
I really can’t just pick one—and since I usually go to both Coffee Haven and Callie’s Consignments within the same visit, I’m going to go ahead and make an exception by using both.
What’s your favorite holiday/festival/special thing to do?
Carnival at the Falls! I mean, how many kids get a freaking birthday booth that the whole town shows up at to hang out and leave presents?! (Kidding, it’s way more meaningful that my aunt and Simon come up with a new theme for my booth each year. It has always felt like I have had two Christmases!).
Find Alverson’s jewelry creations at Callie’s Consignments, Coffee Haven and other retailers in town. You may learn more about her from the author of her (fictionalized) story, The Fall, Kristen Yard, who will be visiting with the Havenwood Falls Book Club. She’ll be coming to the club via video Thursday, Nov. 2, starting at 4 p.m. MT (6 p.m. ET).
