BY: KAREN MONARREZ
Allysa Duque, Miss Cardinal contestant #1, is inside Riley Elementary School. Allysa is in a mentoring program where students participate in activities with younger students. When they are paired up with students, they try to select compatible mentors. As a mentor at Riley, Allysa does activities with her student match. Being a mentor to a younger students makes Allysa a role model and a guiding voice as she answers questions that students have. These questions are sometimes life questions and at other times just questions about high school.
Allysa also works as a church leader. She is in charge of being an overseer where she shows new workers how to do the work. She trains other Youth Leaders and teaches certain stations for the students. Allysa believes this is a way for her to show her friendliness and her character. She loves socializing and communicating with others.
She sees this as an opportunity to gain experience for her future career choice. “I would like to be a nurse or do something in the medical field, I want to start out as a nurse,” Allysa stated. “I love caring for people. I just love taking care of people because it makes me happy to see others happy,” she explained. She is also determined to find ways to fix medical issues. “In the medical sense, if someone were sick I’d want to help them get better,” Allysa states. “Like my friends, whenever they get sick, I’m always searching up home remedies.”
Allysa’s hobby of reading and writing has shaped her and her perspectives in many ways. “For me, reading and writing have always helped shape my personal mindset and perspective on life,” Allysa said. “Writing is an outlet because it’s difficult to express my emotions out loud because, as much as I do love talking, it’s pretty difficult to explain exactly how you feel. It’s difficult to find the right words.”
Writing is a way she can see her ideals clearly and determine her perspective. One of these is her belief that everything that happens, happens for a reason. The good and bad happens for a reason and these events should all be viewed as learning experiences. She loves challenges because she believes to be successful, she needs learn from and grow from the mistakes she commits in a challenge.
“I think it’s important to stay optimistic, to persevere and and have tenacity going into things,” Allysa states. She has an optimistic outlook on life and one of the things that keeps her going is her religion and her love for God. Her faith is a big part of her life and is really important to her. It’s one of the things that have shaped her into the young woman she is.
Her high school experience has taught her about responsibility and lessons that can help her when she begins her career. Teachers want to keep you accountable and help you change bad habits which could cost you a job in the future. She feels that having consequences for cheating is a part of helping students form integrity and develop a strong work ethic. Overall, she believes one purpose in attending high school is to create well-rounded students with useful skills and traits for the workforce. She wants to let the readers know that they should keep learning after graduation and to always question things. Don’t accept everything that you’re told.
SBHS Tyro Times 