Mia Kawasaki is a junior here at Lafayette High School. She enjoys participating in activities and clubs in and outside of school. Some of these activities include Model United Nations, Cross Country, Horseback Riding, Playing the Harp, Key Club, and Future Health Professionals Club. Her favorite in school club is Model UN, which she just joined at the start of the year thanks to her friend Valentina Martinello. She just recently got a Verbal Commendation at a conference held at ODU with her partner Emma Duncan and before that the pair got an Honorable Mention at a conference held right here at Lafayette. Her favorite sport that she does is horseback riding. She has been riding since she was 5 and has continued it despite moving 3 times. She has showed numerous times at Deer Run Park in Newport News where she also has run a Cross Country meet at. Cross Country, another sport that she does, was something that she didn’t want to do at first but her best friend Alex Parkes convinced her to join freshman year. Throughout the seasons she has met her two other best friends, Abby Crookston and Valentina Martinello. Mia states “I absolutely hate running with my whole heart but I just love the people that do it so much that it makes it all worth it”.
Besides the activities and clubs she participates in, she loves to travel. In 5th grade the first ever over seas trip she took was to Morocco. Her
next trip her family had planned was to go to Iceland, but due to Covid-19, her trip had to wait until her freshman year of high school. Mia states “Iceland was so cold I could never live there”. Then, sophomore year Mia and all of her mom’s side of the family went to England. She said it was the most chaotic thing ever because her maternal side of the family wasn’t exactly organized and put together. In the span of one week her cousin got hit by a bike in London, her aunt’s house flooded and then the owner of the house slipped and fell on the floor because of the water, her grandma go sick, Mia got sick, her dad and uncle scratched the rental car, and the same cousin that got hit by a bike got sick on the plane from the airline food choices.
As a junior, Mia still doesn’t know where she wants to go to college but over the past few months she has toured colleges such as Pennsylvania State University, George Washington University, University of Southern California, and University of Pittsburgh. All she knows is that she wants to major in Psychology and International Affairs, she is interested specifically in diplomatic work. She also knows that she wants to go to a big school, not a small one.
Some fun facts about Mia is that she loves geography and can label Asia and Europe on a map in under minute and she can also label all of Africa and Europe’s capitals. She loves anything with cheese and she also loves pasta which is why her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. She has two cats and a dog and one orange fish named purple.
Mia’s best friend Abby Crookston describes her personality as personable, funny, and honest and says her favorite part about her is that she never fails to make her laugh. Her best friend Alex says that her favorite part about her is that she is kind, caring, and cares about everyone around her.
