Sophia Qureshhi, to the right of President Tammy Duering, was recognized as our student of the quarter. Her high school counselor, Laura Elfreth, introduced her as excelling academically as well as being active in politics, international immigration/refugee and health issues. Sophia has been active in politics for a number of years, with a strong interest in getting people to vote. As a co-founder of the Democrat's club in Unionville High School, Sophia helped lead several get out the vote efforts targeted on everyone, not just Democrats. In fact, this past election the get out the vote effort was a joint campaign of the Unionville Democrat and Republican clubs. They conducted a door-to-door campaign talking with everyone to encourage voting. In the future Sophia sees the two clubs joining to work together again on youth voting and anti-gun violence. Sophia sees much more active youth involvement in politics after the past campaign season based on the growth in activity between 2016 and 2017.
This past summer Sophia accompanied her father, who is a doctor, to some of the unofficial Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. These camps house thousands of people and receive no government services since they are not officially recognized. At these "random" camps she helped distribute clothes, toys and money. As a result of that visit, Sophia recognized the huge need for women's health and hygiene assistance in Jordan. On returning to the US, Sophia set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for refugee women's health issues. To date she has raised $2,000.
Sophia plans to go into international law for her career. She has yet to decide on her college choice.