“Winning vice president. The email went out and we saw that we won. I was crying, Kylie was crying….and it was good. When it finally paid off, it felt really gratifying.” Melia Marion Jean Rodriguez. Trinidadian. Going to Florida Polytechnic University. Taurus, and she surely is one because she can be stubborn & “food-driven.” She’s lazy, “in all aspects.” But she’s not lazy in how she pours her passion into coding websites for people and in how she can relieve her much-built stress through painting. She’s also very dedicated to those she holds closest to her, giving them her “all.” And she generally treats everyone else very well because building respect is something that’s important to her. Though, she says that it’s “earned, not just given” and that we shouldn’t have to treat someone with high regard just because of their age or status or wealth. After all, everyone starts with a clean slate in Melia’s eyes, and she’ll only make conclusions based on what she sees. “You don’t know a person until you really talk to them.” Melia, nevertheless, most definitely knows herself. She knows that she needs to work on being nicer to herself, to stop beating herself up for a lot of “stupid” things. And she knows that she wants to work on staying active as she has “no motivation” for it right now. Although, she does appear to have much motivation for her dream in becoming a software engineer. She’s been into coding since she was a freshman in Mr. Toepel’s class, and so she says that this project-based job is what’s for her. It’s flexible, not day-to-day, and it’s something that keeps her going. And she’ll keep going with this, one day finding a life with her dog, her cat, and her boyfriend Adam (who’s “great”). She’ll be working for Amazon or Microsoft, one of those big tech companies, in some Canadian city as she hasn’t ever really been “feeling” the U.S. Charter support team: Ethan Nieves (of course), Sabrina, Meril. Favorite movie: Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Favorite artist: blackbear (she loves “Dead Roses”). Advice for charter underclassmen: “Don’t be afraid to talk to your teachers….for the most part, they’re there for you.”

By: Jena Manning