Q. In what grade are you currently enrolled?

A. I am currently enrolled in 12th grade.

Q. Please provide the first names of your family members: parents, siblings and pets.

A. My parents are my mom, Rita and her partner, Pais, as well as my dad, Craig and stepmom, Ashley. I have a brother, Elek and sister, Maeve. My pets are two dogs, Finn and Olive and two cats, Ralph and Piper.

Q. What is your favorite subject? Why?

A. My favorite subject is psychology because I really enjoy learning about the human mind and understanding the motives behind people’s behaviors.

Q. Have you received any special awards or recognition?

A. I’ve recently received the AP Scholar with Distinction award from the college board, as well as the principal’s honor roll.

Q. Are you involved in any extracurricular activities? How has being involved in these organization(s) impacted your high school experience?

A. I’m involved in a few clubs at school, including Art Club, Young Democrats Club and Spanish Club, as well as being president of the National Art Honor Society. Being in these extracurriculars has helped me connect with my peers and meet new people who share my interests. Thanks to these clubs, my high school experience has been filled with meeting new people and forming connections throughout the community, both with my peers and my teachers.

Q. What do you consider your biggest challenge to date?

A. Learning to overcome my fear of failure has been my biggest challenge to date. Throughout my life I have refused to try new things and take new opportunities in attempts to protect myself from failure. I stopped trying out for sports and stopped some of my hobbies because I believed that not trying was better than failing. I would always come to regret my decisions after the fact, and soon, regret became a worser fate than failure. I’m still not 100% over this fear, but I’ve learned that failing isn’t the end of the world. I now try new opportunities, despite the ever-present threat of failure, because I know that trying and failing makes me feel better about myself than never trying and regretting.

Q. What is your next goal after high school?

A. My goal after high school is to go to college and find out what I’m really interested in. As of now, I have very few ideas about what I want to do, so I’m hoping the years following high school will help me focus on finding out who I am and what I enjoy doing.

Q. Whom do you hope to emulate? Why?

A. I hope to emulate my mom because she is such a hardworking, intelligent and talented woman. She works at a local college teaching entrepreneurship, but she has also studied law and has earned five degrees over the years. She has started up a few businesses and is currently running a paint business with her partner. While being incredibly smart, she is also very handy; for example, last month she built a wall in our basement with electrical outlets inside. I was very impressed. I hope to emulate not only her enthusiasm for new projects and challenges, but also her hard work and determination as well.

Q. For what would you like to be remembered?

A. I would like to be remembered as someone who was genuinely nice and stood up for what was right. I strongly believe in trying to be nice to everyone you see because no one truly knows how someone is actually doing on the inside. Being there for someone with just a short conversation or even a smile could make someone’s day. As long as there’s at least one person who would look back and remember me making their day even a fraction of a bit better, that’s all that matters.

Q. Do you have any advice for your peers?

A. My advice is to meet new people with an open mind and try not to judge others so quickly. Like I said before, you never know what someone is going through and making such quick judgements based on how someone dresses or looks is not fair to that person. Having an open mind allows you to make new connections and bond with new people that you may have otherwise disregarded.