Last Friday morning 11/15/19 we were inspired by five outstanding LHHS students who we honored with either a Character Counts award or Youth of the Month selection. This monthly awards program is always uplifting as the students selected by the faculty, staff and administration of Lake Highlands High School are a great indication that the future is in good hands.
Prior to “meeting” our four November students, we began by meeting Pricilla Beltran who was selected in October but was out of town on a college visit the day of the presentation. Priscilla is a Character Counts honoree. She is very active inside and outside the halls of LHHS. Currently Priscilla is serving as the Senior Class president and also works in City Councilman Adam McGough’s District 10 office. Both of these roles play a key role in her preparation for her future where she plans to eventually attend law school and then become an IP or corporate lawyer.
Our November Character Counts honorees are Tiyah Braxton and Brandon Belanger.
Tiyah is a member of the Wildcat band where she plays the French Horn. She is also an athlete as she plays shortstop on the LHHS softball team. Her future plans are to attend the university of Houston to study Organizational Psychology. As we do each month, we ask some recurring questions and all the answers are entertaining. In Tiyah’s case, when asked about who she would like to meet, she said Quintin Tarrantino because “he is a genius at making violent and powerful movies. I would seek to learn where his ideas come from.
Brandon Belanger grew up in Lake Highlands and over the years has developed an entrepreneurial spirit. This is seen in his proactive work in establishing and coordinating the very popular Cars and Coffee event periodically held at LHHS. Further, Brandon has built up his own landscaping company. This vocation made it possible and logical to Brandon that immediately after the tornado last month, he took his equipment over to the damaged Preston Hollow and northwest Dallas area and worked for 20 hours helping to clean roads and assisting in any way he could.
Our Youth of the Month recipients are Amber Bowen and Jackson Polston.
Amber grew up in LH and loves the stage as a talented singer in the acclaimed LHHS choir program. She noted that she loves to sing and has used her love of singing to build relationships with others. It is Amber’s plan to attend college where she will focus on music education where thereafter she can help other young people find the same great things she has found through music.
Our final student honoree was Jackson Polston. Jackson grew up in LH and now is proud to be serving as one of the drum majors for the Wildcat band. Jackson is a hopeful Aggie but is keeping his options open pending some scholarship opportunities. He is undecided on his major but enjoys mathematics. Jackson is a talented trumpet player and has been awarded the Louis Armstrong award.
All of these young adults inspired us club members to be better – better in our confidence for the future, better in our service to others and better in our determination to pursue a passion.
Congratulations to all of these students!