There is a place where teens turn into mature young adults. A place where students can freely express their pride, individuality, skills, and creativity in a classroom setting, during pep rallies, participation in sports and clubs, and other various activities. At this place, thousands of personalities gather everyday to learn, influence, and change. This place is known as Seminole High School. Seminole is represented by an outstanding body of intellectual and superb students. Out of over 3,000 students on campus, only a few revolve their lives around leadership and making a difference. IB senior Won-Young Choi is one of these exceptional students.

Leaving her mark as president of National Honor Society, Choi was honored to be elected last year for the position by their main sponsor, teacher Peggy Johnson, and previous officers.  She started off as a junior senator, who is “partially in charge of the juniors [on NHS],” she says, and worked her way up. As president of the organization, Choi is leading the club and its members through the community, bringing service to those who need it the most.  Holding the Andrew J. Bracken Chapter, Seminole’s National Honors Society does community service and conducts other helpful services for their peers and school. “By combining the four principles of character, leadership, service, and scholarship, NHS simultaneously honors students while giving them opportunities to demonstrate their leadership skills,” says Choi.  NHS takes part in numerous activities on and off campus such as Relay for Life, textbook distributions during orientation, and other fundraisers. This year they are taking part in a new, exciting event outside of Florida, “NHS officers along with a couple members will be going to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend the National Lead Conference that will be held there,” says Choi. NHS was be unveiling other events throughout the year including a Valentine’s Day dance.

NHS requires commitment and passion, which Choi has as noticed by her fellow officers and peers, “She’s very good at keeping order, gets the job done, and makes NHS fun,” says senior Elizabeth Moore.  Junior Kelsey Leetzow also commented saying, “She keeps NHS well organized.”  Choi believes that NHS allows students to demonstrate that just their leadership skills, but it shows other their true character, “[I joined because] NHS seemed to give off a positive message to everyone, a quality that intrigued me.” She takes pride in being president of the organization saying “[Even though] NHS members are all typical, outstanding students by daytime, when they all get together, they can make miracles happen. They truly exemplify greatness in numbers.”

Choi does not limit herself to only NHS, she is vice president of the Asian American Student Association, participates in Mu Alpha Theta, a math honors society, and is on the Illuminati Academic Team.  Her intelligence and poise defines her as a role model student to others.  As an IB student, she uses her time management skills to balance her school work and activities. “Managing an NHS officer position on top of balancing my IB classes plus AP classes can be hard sometimes but I found out that with careful planning, I can finish everything,” she says.  On the weekends, she sleeps in and takes some time for herself, listening to music, reading books, and admiring her souvenir collection comprised of trinkets from around the world.  Choi wants other students to not be afraid to join a club because “[They] are open to anybody who takes the initiative to be a part [of] them.”  As an extraordinary student, Choi’s involvement across campus is propelling her in the right direction.