Photography by Yuvie Styles.
What extracurricular activities are you involved in?
Outside of school, I love volunteering at a local community center. In the fall, I enjoy doing cheer, and in the spring, playing lacrosse. I’ve always loved to do art whenever I have time and I love a good movie.
What was your favorite class?
My favorite classes are math and English.
Where would you go to grab an after-school snack?
I love to go to Chick-fil-A or Pinkberry.
What was one challenge you faced at school this year, and how did you deal with it?
Freshman year, I struggled with learning math online. Despite that, I decided to challenge myself and choose the harder math class out of my two options for this year. I felt really nervous going into it, but I was ready to put the time in and try my best. After working hard, I’m doing a lot better than I expected, and it has even become my favorite class. My success in the class made me realize that with hard work I can reach new limits.
Tell us about something you did this year that you’re proud of.
This past year, l have gotten better at keeping an open mind toward learning from new people and experiences. I’ve improved on taking advantage of opportunities to listen to people’s insight on certain topics — such as attending the Town Hall budget meeting or attending a panel about women speaking about their experiences in their fields. I’ve decided that I can always benefit from learning something new, so I will take all opportunities to do so.
Which teacher, staff member or coach impacted you the most this year, and how?
This year, my math teacher has impacted me the most in that she inspires me to do my best. She values hard work, she has a contagious enthusiasm, and she always offers her reasonable advice on things, even when it isn’t math related.
What are your plans for this summer?
This summer, I am working at a summer camp for a week and going to Europe for the first time! I want to try and read more books and visit my grandparents who I don’t get to see often.
What’s your dream job?
This is always changing, but I think my dream job would be something involving business and design.
What are you most excited about for next year?
I know next year, my junior year, will be a lot of hard work and a lot of thinking about the future, but I’m most excited to have a fully “normal” school year again after the pandemic. I know classes, sports games and events will all feel more connected.
What’s a goal you have? How do you plan on achieving it?
I want to try and spend less time on my phone and be more focused. I pick it up too much to avoid doing other things. Instead of grabbing my phone all the time, I want to make a habit of picking up a book or taking walks instead.
What’s something you wish we asked you about?
As I am passionate about improving our city’s water efficiency, water conservation became the perfect focus of my Social Impact Project. The project, from my U.S. Government class, prompted me to find an issue I want to change, and investigate where I can find improvement within my city’s current policies. After researching online and reaching out to people with questions, I’ve determined that the city of Dallas has hundreds of thousands of meters that they monitor monthly, but the usage data is used solely to process people’s water bills. People’s water usage data carries a wasted potential in making our city more conservative with our resources. The data should be constantly accessible to homeowners; they could use it to monitor how much water they’re really using, and more importantly, identify any leaks that could potentially dump gallons of unused water into the ground. Technology does exist that will monitor water usage data and transfer it directly to an app on a mobile device. I want to encourage anyone who owns a home to use one of these digital water usage monitors. Even better, the city could provide an incentive program for people that adopt these monitors, similar to rebate programs that already offer for the installation of water-conserving toilets and plumbing. I hope to do my best in improving access to water usage data in our city.
