HHS Senior Lana Ejneid has been making her name for years now, but it’s finally paid off as she has earned the title of the salutatorian of her class.
With a GPA of 3.9, Ejneid was almost named valedictorian, but the title ended up going to HHS Senior Zainab Al-Saadi.
“I wasn’t mad,” Ejneid said, “It really was okay with me, I know we’re both smart students.”
Ejneid’s perspective on the situation is an admirable one, but it hasn’t always been that way.
“I was strict on myself in high school, I was always like, ‘I have to get an A, an A, an A,’” Ejneid said. “But this year I was like ‘it’s my last year, it’s okay if I get this grade, it’s not gonna matter that much. I had to be a little easier on myself, because when I compare myself to other people, I’m like, ‘I should do good too,’ but now I’m like, ‘I should go easy, I should just live life, and not be so strict.’”
Having strict parents or teachers who always push you to do good can be difficult. It’s hard to get work done when it’s not something you enjoy, but this wasn’t a problem for Ejneid. HHS English teacher Brian Murphy described Ejneid as “a very sweet kid, but a very serious student.”
“She’s always doing what she’s supposed to be doing,” Murphy said, “And the thing is, she’s not acting that way because she’s being told to. She’s 100% self-motivated.”
Being self-motivated is a hard task for anyone to achieve. It’s hard to find the passion, and even harder to find the ability to go through with it, but Ejneid showed up and worked hard, determined to succeed.
“She knows what it takes to be successful academically, and she’s not the kind of person who gets distracted,” Murphy said. “…You’re not going to find anyone more disciplined than Lana, and that’s one of the many reasons why she’s at the top of her class academically.”
Because Ejneid is salutatorian, she has to give a speech at graduation. While some people might write about their high school lives, or give some advice to their peers, Ejneid has decided to take a different approach.
“In my speech, I get to share my story with everyone who doesn’t know me,” Ejneid said, “But I was nervous, because I was thinking about like, ‘What if I stutter? What if I do this? What if I do that?’”
Being nervous is expected from anybody, and giving a speech can be especially daunting when you’re sharing your story with a big audience. However, it’s a great way for Ejneid to make herself known when she’s been quiet for so much of her high school career.
“Lana is very mild-mannered,” Murphy said, “She’s quiet, but she’s not shy. She’s not the type of person who needs to walk into a room and immediately be the center of attention.”
For some, it’s easy to sit quietly in class, but for others it can be a bit harder. In Murphy’s eyes, Ejneid actually enjoys sitting quietly.
“I’ve always got the impression that she enjoys the role of sitting back and taking it all in,” Murphy said, “She’s also very thoughtful. She never says anything without thinking about it first.”
Thoughtfulness is a good quality to have for writing speeches, as is revision, which Ejneid deals with constantly in Murphy’s College Comp class. Outside of all this academic excellence, Ejneid still finds time to indulge in her hobbies.
“I like photography, sometimes I like to take pictures of stuff and then edit them,” Ejneid said. “Sometimes I paint, and sometimes I like to bake.”
Being in NHS, Student Council, HOSA, and FBLA, getting all of her work done on time, and maintaining a GPA that high was not an easy task, but Ejneid has accomplished it all while still having time to enjoy taking photos or baking sweets. Although those were the only clubs Ejneid participated in this year, she’s also tried out Robotics, Art Club, and backstage crew in Spotlight Players in the past.
With all of these extracurriculars on her college resume, Ejneid was an easy grab. She plans on attending Saint Louis University in the fall to study medical sciences.
“It’s like pre med, then hopefully I’ll go to medical school to become a family medicine doctor– a primary care physician,” Ejneid said.
To prepare herself for college, Ejneid has been taking college classes to gain credits that wouldn’t normally be available until she attended college herself.
“It’s nice because you got something done early so it feels like you’ve accomplished a lot, and it’s like– not a lot of people take these college classes, so it feels nice to be someone who actually does,” Ejneid said.
Ejneid has the perfect qualities to become a health physician. Patience, attentiveness, discipline and determination.
“If and when someone I love needs medical help, I don’t want the person caring for us to be ‘flying by the seat of their pants’ if you know what I mean,” Murphy said. “I want a serious thinker looking at those charts. I want someone who won’t get distracted. I want that care to be in the hands of someone really smart and with the demeanor of someone like Lana.”
