As the school year is coming to an end, Yorba Linda Mustangs are sad to see many notable seniors leave and move on to college. Amina Abdelbary (12), in particular, is an extraordinary student that will be missed dearly. Despite moving here from Egypt just a couple of years ago, she exceeds in not only her academic life, but also in her extracurricular activities on campus. While taking a whopping ten AP classes and passing all of the tests with 4’s and 5’s, she has also participated in the school’s mock trial program, Choir, Basketball, and CSF.

Since freshman year, Amina has been in choir, singing a multitude of solos at shows. From freshman to junior year, she’s been on the school’s basketball team, serving as a point guard. Starting junior year, she has been a devoted member of the mock trial team on campus, attending almost a dozen competitions at the Santa Ana Courthouse against other schools in the Orange County. She enjoys playing the witness characters because she gets to put her own personality into the role. She has also been a member of CSF since freshman year, working her way up to the title of “President” in her junior and senior year.

When asked about her favorite classes, she immediately mentioned APUSH and AP Macroeconomics. She enjoyed Tall Walls’ ability to make American history fun and interesting and Mr. Lejano’s consistent uplifting energy and passion for the class.

When the time came to apply to colleges, Amina’s top choice was Stanford, and she even applied early; however, she got deferred to regular admissions and unfortunately, did not end up getting admitted. Nonetheless, she still got into most of the other universities she applied to, including the prestigious UC Berkeley, NYU, and USC. After much deliberation, she decided that she would attend the University of California, Riverside next fall. When asked why, she said it was because she wanted to stay close to home, just like her brother, Adam Abdelbary, who graduated from Cal State Fullerton this month. On top of that, UCR offered her a full ride, so that was a no brainer for her. She will be commuting to school and will be majoring in political science at Riverside. She hopes to attend Stanford Law School after college.

As she prepares her departure from high school, she reflects on her experience at YL. Coming from Yorba Linda Middle School, she held onto her best friend, Leanne Burrows (12), and has also made new friends like Christine Ding (12). Although both her besties are attending UCI, she hopes to stay close friends with them throughout the upcoming years.