While the students of Singley Academy are known for their academic competency, a significant few stand as examples of student leadership as well. Linda Diaz Estrada, a freshman at Singley Collegiate is one of them. Besides her academic excellence, her role as Freshman Student Council Officer represents her leadership qualities and ambition to contribute and create change in her community. In a recent interview, she shared her thoughts, goals, and ambition as a freshman at high school.
In the interview, she started off explaining her role as a freshman Student Council representative. Her responsibility includes helping the executive officers organize meetings and various events and run the club through cooperation with everyone involved. Yearly gala and Trunk-or-Treat are a few examples of her work. She further explains that her role in the club has taught her a sense of responsibility and valuable leadership skills. Her keen interest to contribute to the Singley community encouraged her to take this role and she believes the experience from her club work will prepare her for future prospects. Serving as a StuCo officer, she plans to create more opportunities for students to be more involved with the school by organizing fun events and fundraisers. On the question of what challenge she faced as someone holding an offer position in the freshman year of high school, she explains that collaborating with people of varying opinion and interest is quite a challenge but she aims to cooperate with others through respect and understanding in such circumstances.
As someone who likes to be involved around the school, she admits that sometimes it gets tough to balance school and club responsibilities. Despite the challenges, she makes sure to complete her part of the work as a StuCo officer while making sure to stay on top of her academics. In response to the question: what keeps you motivated, she exclaims, “My goals for the future keeps me motivated.” She also remarks that she looks up to her older sister’s hard work for inspiration.
Linda further shares that while she grew up financially secure, she hopes to provide the same level of comfort for her family in the future. As per her ambition, she plans to get her bachelor’s degree after high school and study to become a teacher. Linda, who is enthusiastic about education, specifically wants to work as an elementary teacher. She hopes to inspire confidence and guide the young children on their first step towards their academic journey.
When Linda was asked about advice she would give to incoming freshman students, she exclaims that she came in freshman year with an open mind and wanted to be social with everyone but she thinks it’s important to establish boundaries between having friends and focusing on academics. She also advised to avoid procrastination as works files up rather quickly.
As a student who’s trying to be well-rounded in high school through academic achievements and extracurricular activities, Linda shared how she personally deals with stress. She says, “I keep pushing despite the stress” and mentions that she always takes a moment to spend time with her friends and family and be social as it helps her deal with stressful situations. Besides spending time with loved ones, she likes to read and sometimes draw to distress.
Starting off the freshman year of high school can be both exciting and stressful for most people and a lot of us struggle to deal with such stress. On that note, Linda is a remarkable example of what one can achieve with a motivated mindset and goal for success. Her motivation to always strive to work hard for her future plans and courage to take up challenges are some admirable qualities that will surely inspire many more students who have dreams of their own and are trying their best to achieve them.
