For most students, senior year of high school is the year to finally take a break from the pressures of school after the infamous stressful junior year. Seniors will fill their schedules with classes they believe to require the least amount of effort in anticipation for second-semester senioritis, sometimes only enrolling in four classes instead of the previously required five or six. Attendance levels slowly decline as well as grades once students are accepted into college. But these statements could not be farther from the truth for senior Payton Janish (12).

Contrastingly, Janish admits that for her, senior year is probably the most difficult and time-consuming in regards to the classes she has chosen to take and other activities that she is currently involved in. Not only is Janish taking a full schedule of six classes, an unheard of endeavor for senior, but she also decided to join ASB this year, holding the office position Senior Class Vice President. Nonetheless, her days packed with ASB commitments and loads of homework. On top of this, Janish manages to fit in volunteering at St. Jude’s hospital in the oncology department and taking horseback riding lessons into her busy schedule.

By the end of her high school career, Janish will have taken eleven AP courses. The hard work she has put into these classes has paid off as she is in the top one percent of her class, currently ranked second with a weighted GPA of 4.78. Although, the path she has taken has not been an easy one. Janish recounts staying up until 3:00 am to study for her AP classes and finish homework. She has had to sacrifice a lot to achieve her excellent academic record. This year, even as a distinguished varsity long-distance runner who has been awarded both “Rising Star” and “Most Outstanding Distance” her freshman year and “Most Valuable Player” her sophomore year, Janish gave up cross country to take AP Computer Science during sixth period. “It was a difficult choice,” Janish admits “but after weeks of contemplating, I decided that to achieve my goals for college and my future, taking AP Computer Science over cross country was the right decision for me.”

Janish really shines through when it comes to awards and honors. She has been recognized with various honors throughout high school. She was awarded AP Scholar with Distinction, which entails scoring a 3.5 or higher on 5 or more AP exams as well as the Mustang Academic Scholar award, meaning that she has maintained a 4.0 GPA. Representing the top three percent of PSAT scores, Janish is a National Merit Commended Scholar. For her achievements in mathematics and science, Janish has also been awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Society of Women Engineers in 2018.

Janish is already making plans for her bright future beyond high school. She is planning on attending a four-year college to study electrical engineering. “I am very interested in biomedical engineer,” Janish explains “however, I believe that there will be better job flexibility if I obtain a degree in electrical engineering.”