Discus Award Winner
Winners Gallery
PHOTOS
Shelby Norman
12th Grade, GA
ATTRIBUTES
Academics
I’m what one would call a “progressive student”. I have continuously improved academically over the past four years. I’ve always been an A/B student, and I’ve received honor student and academic achievement awards outside of school. My school doesn’t give out academic awards until junior year, and even then they are given to the top 5% of the class. I’m not a part of that small 5%, especially with less than 110 students in my graduating class. That does not mean I have a depressing GPA, it just means I Haven’t made straight A’s for the past four years. I know that I’m a very good student, and have always been so.
Community Service
I’ve always been exceptionally active within my community, as well as just outside of my community. For the past four years, I’ve been a part of the Diamond in the Rough organization, which is a mentoring organization for girls ages 4-18. I’ve been a mentor for young girls for two years, and I won the community service award as a part of being crowned the Diamond Debutante Queen. I love working with girls because it’s so gratifying to see them grow in confidence and self worth. I also currently volunteer at the Global Village Project, which is an alternative school for refugee girls from war torn and stressful areas across the world. It’s a place where they can receive an education as well as transition a little easier into American life.
Other Achievements
During my sophomore year, I organized a bake sale to raise funds for the American Cancer Society and cancer research. Both of my grandfathers had cancer, and one died when I was only 6. The disease hits very close to me, and I am passionate about funding research for a cure. I baked about half of the goods myself and solicited my friends to bake about the other half. I sold cupcakes, brownies, and other sweets and made about $60 because every little bit counts. I also organized a separate bake sale my junior year to raise money to buy school supplies for children in rural Ecuador. My friends and I made over $200 to be used for all sorts of school supplies. I took the supplies with me when I went to Ecuador during the summer of 2012 to teach English in a poor school for a month.
