Tramon Jackson

Junior Emilly Lima interviews juniors Lola Sanders and Kaitlin Moore for journalism class.

Junior Emilly Lima said she contributes to South High as much as she possibly can. She participates in so many clubs, sports, jobs, and activities that it is hard for her to recall them all.

“Let’s see, I do Medical science, HOSA, yearbook, and I’m the student council president. Jobs I’ve worked this year are JJ Twigs, QuikTrip, and McDonald’s. My AP class is AP Psychology, and the sports I’ve done are cross-country, track, and diving. I planned culture night, the student staff volleyball game, the student staff kickball game, Day of Love in February, and I think that’s it.” Lima said. 

That’s over 15 different activities/jobs she has kept up with this school year. Lima explains her ‘why’ –the motivation and purpose behind all of this.

“The reason why I do so many things is that freshman year I had like a real Epiphany– something hit me, like if I don’t do everything now, I don’t want to get to senior year and regret that I should have done that club or that sport, or I should have tried out for something, so I think it’s just FOMO. I just like to do everything,” she said.

Emilly’s new favorite activity, which she picked up this year, is the dive team.

“I joined the dive team this year because I saw videos of people diving, and thought, wait, this is actually a fun idea! I also used to do gymnastics, so it wasn’t too out of my reach. During cross country, a freshman, who dives, said, ‘Hey, I’m doing dive, but I don’t know any other friends on the team. Do you want to come dive with me?’ and I was like, ‘Hey! let’s do it,’ and then, I genuinely had the time of my life,” Emilly said. 

Emilly said she has loved diving so much this year that she is now thinking about diving in college.

Many of the spirit events this year at South came from Emilly’s ideas. She said that when she puts so much time and effort into setting up a fun night for the students at South, and it doesn’t turn out how she had imagined, it’s easy to feel frustrated. 

“Culture Night was a blast. It actually turned out much better than I thought it would, even if it wasn’t what I expected. At the end, it was like a dance party. Everybody was requesting songs and having a blast! Even Pappas started dancing! But it can definitely be upsetting when it’s not the number of people I intended to come, but what we can control, what we give out to the people, and that’s what I try to remember. even though it did break my heart a little bit,” said Emilly

Emilly’s younger sister, Evelly Lima, a freshman, explains their relationship and the impact her sister has on her, especially while she’s entering high school. 

“I feel like she really influences and inspires me, and whatever she does, I would want to do too, and she’s always just there for me. She’s truly the best sister; we are like two peas in a pod,” Evelly said. 

 Emily’s ability to inspire shows through many people. Her best friend, junior Tramon Jackson, describes how he thinks she impacts other people around school. 

“She inspires others to push to the best of their abilities and not do the bare minimum and to just do whatever they do to the fullest,” he said. 

Jackson and Emilly have been best friends since middle school. They have been through good and bad together. Jackson recalls how she was back then and how she has matured and changed.

“Since 7th grade, watching her get older and become how she’s so involved today, it’s been really cool to watch her become more of who she is and help her community. And for me, being her friend, I like seeing how hard she fights and pushes to get everything done well,” Jackson said. 

Many students are friends with Emilly through sports, jobs, clubs, or just through school. Evelly said all the activities her sister is involved in can definitely stress her out.

“Everything can definitely stress her out. But, it’s good for her, she likes having to move around a lot – she doesn’t like being still. But yeah, she definitely gets stressed,” Evelly said.  

One thing Emilly said she prides herself on is her appearance at school every day. Outfits, Hair, Makeup- it’s all important to her. School starts at 7:35 a.m, but Emilly said she gets up at 5 a.m. to prepare for her day. 

“Mondays are like my bummy days, but especially on Fridays, I try to really bring it all together. Even though I woke up today super tired, I was like you know what, I’m still going to dress up,” she said. 

It’s hard for Emilly to keep up with everything sometimes, but she said she loves it anyway. Emilly explains how she does it, and shares a quote from a celebrity who inspires and motivates her in all she does, especially when it comes to looking put together. 

“When things get hard, I think it’s just pushing through it. Have you heard that Rihanna saying? It goes ‘if you don’t feel like that girl, you’re just going to have to pretend to be that girl,’ so that’s what you’ve got to do, just fake it till you make it. And that really helps me feel good,” she said. 

Math teacher Allison MacDonald often works closely with Emilly because she is a Student Council sponsor. 

“I am inspired by her. I think that her desire to get students involved is very inspiring, and she has gotten me to be involved in some of her plans as well,” MacDonald said. 

MacDonald has gotten to know Emilly well because Emilly is the Student Council president.

“Emilly is one of the most enthusiastic and organized students when it comes to planning events and coming up with new ideas. She has a contagious enthusiasm that gets people excited to not only participate but also help plan things,” MacDonald said. 

On top of everything Emilly does at South, she is also working on becoming a citizen. According to Emilly, she and her family have had green cards ever since 2016, when they moved here from Brazil. Just last year, her mom applied to get her actual citizenship, and was accepted. And now that her mom is finalizing her process, the girls’ process is going to start next month, so they’re both looking forward to that.

She shares how it’s a struggle at home because her parents don’t speak English. Emilly has to do a lot of things on her own which she said can be hard. 

Emilly is preparing herself for a bright future. Since she’s at the end of her junior year, College and potential careers are a big question.

“I think I might go to Mizzou and major in Cognitive Neuroscience. I thought I wanted to do business, but after taking Marketing, I decided maybe business isn’t for me. But I really just want to help people with their mental health and bring awareness to mental health hospitals and stuff like that,” Emilly said.