Editor’s note: The Future Leaders of America series profiles high school seniors who display leadership qualities in their school and the community. The series is brought to you by Pridemark Construction.
By Stacey Shannon—
MUNCIE, IN—In the four years she’s been at Muncie Central High School, Isabel Quirk has been making a mark. From athletics to community service to academics, Quirk happily maintains a busy schedule and is looking forward to attending Indiana University Bloomington next fall to study law, political science or human rights advocacy.
During her time as a Bearcat, Quirk played tennis all four years and soccer until this year. She also had a year of playing basketball. Along with athletics, Quirk has been part of student council and the Diverse Cats Club for three years as well.
“Diverse Cats was a school club that worked to celebrate diversity,” she said. “We did a lot of things to celebrate our diversity and to encourage diversity here in our school.”
Quirk also worked with Project Leadership to educate her peers about jobs and internships available throughout the community both in the present and the future. She’s also been working with her mom, the school’s 9th Grade On Track Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator, to create Cat’s Closet full of donated clothes and toiletries for students who need them for any reason.
Part of her role as a student leader also included being president of the prom planning committee last year and a member of it this year. Quirk said she worked hard to get sponsorships from local businesses to put on a nice event for her classmates to help improve their perception of the school.
“I worked really hard to…show students at Central that we can have nice things, and that with hard work, we can do anything that the schools around us can do,” she said. “[Some of] these students don’t realize their full potential and even just by having a nice prom, I feel like I was able to show students they are capable of doing anything they want to do.”
Along with athletics and leadership, academics have also been a priority for Quirk. She was inducted into the National Honor Society last year and serves as its president this year. As a senior, Quirk has also volunteered with the Reading Rangers program that pairs high school students with third graders at East Washington Academy who are struggling readers.
Finding ways to connect with and help others in the community is important to Quirk. She said she often volunteers with the Muncie Fire Department on Christmas Eve for their toy giveaway.
But her reach doesn’t stop locally. As a sophomore, Quirk was selected as one of a few Hoosier choir students to represent the state in a 15-day European tour.
The goal and motivation behind her busy schedule and community involvement is simple: to create relationships. Quirk said having strong, meaningful relationships is important to her and often those relationships start by being able to help someone else.
“Being involved in school, I’ve been able to meet so many amazing people – people I normally wouldn’t meet if I wasn’t involved,” Quirk said. “And it’s just helped me not only be well rounded by also…to put myself in other’s people shoes and understand people better.”
And that kind of involvement is exactly what Quirk encourages students coming up behind her to be part of.
“Get involved,” she said. “Although it seems like it could be a lot of work at times, it’s definitely worth it. It not only looks good when you’re applying to colleges, but it also just makes you a better person. It teaches you life lessons like time management [and] relationship building. And it also just gives you a sense of purpose whenever you’re at school.”
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