Making It Count

A lot of high schoolers are just waiting to get out. Instead make it fun and make it count.

Aminhan+Lobster+leading+a+group+of+students+to+get+ready+for+the+Epsilon+Beta+Stay-In.

Leah Miget

Aminhan Lobster leading a group of students to get ready for the Epsilon Beta Stay-In.

Leah Miget, Reporter

The philosophy that sophomore Aminhan Lobster tries to stick to when it comes to participating in or helping out with school events is “you’re only in high school for four years, so why not make it as fun as you possibly can?”

There are a lot of students at Liberty who are involved with sports and/or multiple clubs at school. Aminhan is a part of StuCo, Key Club, Epsilon Beta, French Club and is on the JV Dance Team.  She spends six hours a week in StuCo without including the time spent in the StuCo class and 6 plus hours in Dance Team practice.

She participates in all these activities and she still has time to keep up with her school work.  There are a few strategies and principles Aminhan keeps to get all these things done.  

“Time management should be really important to you and have a schedule and stick to it,” she said. 

For Aminhan, her mom, Ly Syin Lobster, is an important role model. She motivates and encourages her to get involved.

“My mom’s just really hard working and always really busy but she always makes time to do stuff to the best of her ability,” Aminhan said.

There are many people who are busy and involved in school just like Aminhan.  Since they are all so busy, it is nice to have a network of people who are busy with you to fall back on when you need help.  Aminhan has lots of groups from different clubs to fall back on.

“I have so many friends who are supportive, it would take me forever to list them all,” she said. “Everyone in StuCo is really supportive and they understand. I couldn’t list all the other people and being involved in so many things, you also see other people who are on the struggle bus with you so you know you’re not alone and you can go to any of those people to ask for help.”

Aimee Weber and Katie May are two of the many people Aminhan feels she can rely on no matter what.  Aimee and Katie both became great friends with Aminhan during freshman year while they were all on the Dance Team together.  Katie and Aminhan are co-captains of the JV Dance Team.  

Katie May said nearly the same thing Aminhan did when talking about how they balance school work and clubs and having a social life.  

“Just finding a network of people who you have the same classes with that can help you out when you’re busy is what helps me,” May said. 

It’s also important to manage your time wisely with balancing school and clubs.  

“I just prioritize my time,” Weber said. “If I know that I have dance and homework on the same night, then right when I get home, the first opportunity I get to do homework I do it, or I do it in my freetime between classes and stuff like that. You just have to find little ways to get it done.”

Students aren’t the only ones you can fall back on when in need of help.  Any of the teachers at Liberty would be more than happy to lend a helping hand or an listening ear.  Aminhan has a few teachers in mind that each help students, each in their own way.

“I love T-O, she’s just a really cool person. She’s really understanding, she’s really supportive.  Mrs. Borders is our Key Club sponsor and she’s always supported me and even when I took on a bigger position she was like, ‘You got this, I got your back.’ Mr. Barker is my absolute favorite. He calls me Rock Lobster (like the song by the B-52s).  He’s just always supportive and always there and I’m not even one of his students because I don’t have him as a teacher in class but he’s one of the most friendly teachers at Liberty. And Mr. Raziq is definitely a teacher who gives the tough love, so I really appreciate him being honest.”

There are many ways to get more involved in school functions. You could join a club, a sport, participate in spirit weeks or look around the lunch room for ways to get involved.  At lunch, there are often booths set up for fundraisers or selling tickets for different upcoming school events. You could do any number of things to participate in school and really show your Liberty pride.