In the mind of a young ackie, which is a seventh and eighth grader in the WY Academic Center, they assume everything revolves around them and life is the easiest. “Academic Center! Bring it on!” said Sonia Muzemil, a senior who spent her six years at this high school. She has seen every mandatory class and experienced a lot more than the average high school student attending a charter school. Not every student has had the opportunity to join the Academic Center, but they still have had the chance to choose WY as their top choice high school. Sonia, on the other hand, was a former ackie and had decided to stay there rather than moving to a different high school such as Walter Payton College Prep.

Sonia entered the Academic Center assuming everything was going to be easy when in reality, she wasn’t the straight A student she thought she was going to be. “I felt shot down, which sounds sad, but I managed to make new friends and I grew to appreciate that,” she continued. Sonia didn’t feel let down after seeing everyone was similar to her.

All of the years participating in WY classes, Sonia declared the best year at this school was her junior year. “Yeah, junior year! I was taking all the classes I wanted and I had a great time working with the Young Company, especially since those plays were great that year!” Sonia, alongside many of her students, have been questioning who her friends were. “During my junior year, I started establishing who my friends were and it allowed me to connect with more people.” she added.

Connecting with many people, it all worked with one of the biggest activities she participated in. The Young Company tied in to who Sonia really is as a person. “I started Company during my sophomore year when I got in the choir for Big Fish. I continued on because I had lots of fun and as I kept working, I became friends with so much more people.” As much as she wanted to be with them for a long time, she couldn’t since the Addams Family production was her last show working with them. Sonia also wanted to make it clear that she had a sad face during this interview question.

What made Muzemil smile once again was the day of prom. When asked about one of the biggest event of every senior’s life, she responded with one word, five times: “Yes!” Sonia is very much looking forward to prom as she is going with her best friends and is expecting a good time.

As far as expectations go, Sonia jokingly mentioned she had expected a good love life in high school. “I think we all know it didn’t turn out as expected. I also expected good grades since back in grade school, I was a straight A student.”

Sonia Muzemil had her six years at Whitney Young Magnet High School and she has no complaints about the things she had done. Choosing a college was not a challenge for her since she decided on Washington University in St. Louis. “I filled out their ‘get to know you form’,” she continued while laughing, “I started liking them even more. I got into a lot of schools, including WashU, but when I went to visit them, I knew their programs were a lot better and they gave me more money than the other places I was admitted to.”

Sonia will be majoring in Computer Engineering at WashU. It had been her passion since the fifth grade and she will be an excellent student there. Congratulations to her and her commitment to WashU.