AMY SZPARA

EDGARD – How she has the time to do all she does is anyone’s guess. But she manages to spread herself and her time out to lots of positive organizations, while maintaining her high grade point average in her honors classes. She is a parent’s dream come true, and a teacher’s hope. She is a role model for other students. She is also the St. John Parish Student of the Year. Malana Joseph, a 12th-grader at West St. John High School in Edgard, was chosen Student of the Year because of her scholastic achievements, her school ties and her devotion to community service. On her way to Dillard University to study mass communications after graduation this month, the star pupil will be leaving high school with a 4.2 average. Joseph attends school half a day and works as an administrative assistant at Motiva until 4:30 p.m. She is the president of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the 4-H Club at her school. She is also president of the St. John Parish 4-H Junior Leadership Club. A member of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Challenging Higher Academics Necessary for Growing Educated Students (CHANGES), she also belongs to Using Situations Effectively (USE) and Parish Area Students Systematically Eliminating Drugs (PASSED). As if that is not enough, Joseph is also in Talent Search, an organization designed to help prepare students for college by introducing them to their options and financial possibilities. Also in the Senior Choir and Vice President of the Youth Choir at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the teen was chosen along with four other seniors to be recognized in the Senior Salute in the area daily newspaper. Joseph received a $12,000 scholarship to Dillard, and she also has the TOPS program backing her education. Joseph was first nominated as Student of the Year by her school, then competed against the nominee at East St. John High School. She was interviewed, required to prepare a composition and present a portfolio. Then she was picked to represent the parish at a regional fair at Delgado Community College. Joseph, who is also the saxophone section leader for the band, recently represented the parish at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Globalplex Intermodal terminal dock dedication in Reserve. The talented teen, though dedicated to school, said that her family is the most important part of her life. Her mother, Margo Joseph, is the tri-parish Medicaid manager in LaPlace. Her father, Louis Joseph, is an accountant at DOW and is the commission president for the Port of South Louisiana. Her sister, 25-year-old Tashana Barnes, is a graduate of Southern University and works as a legal secretary at the courthouse in Edgard. “My family has always said that no matter what grades I make, as long as I tried my hardest, they were proud,” said Joseph. “My mom helps me in the academic department, and my dad helps me with effective speaking and confidence.” Joseph said her role models are Sally Ann Roberts and Michelle Miller of Channel 4 News. “They speak with such confidence,” she said. When Joseph had the chance to meet Roberts, the anchorwoman told her to “shoot for the stars.” Joseph wants to be a broadcast journalist, and she said she can’t wait to become just like the two women she admires on television. Until then, she will keep striving for her goals and working to accomplish her dreams. “I was always taught to have a positive attitude,” she said. “People in the hallway always ask me Why are you so happy all the time?’ I think, Why shouldn’t I be happy? What’s there to be sad about?'”