“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”
Convinced wholeheartedly by Nelson Mandela’s words, Maimouna Cherif has made blossoming into an educated and powerful woman her life-long goal. She believes that each person is granted multiple starting lines throughout their life; these lines aren’t utilized to indicate the start of a race but are instead used to indicate new beginnings, which will serve as golden steps that will successfully lead us into the next stage(s) of our life.
Maimouna currently attends Newburg Middle School in Louisville, KY- a school recognized for its math, science and technology (MST) program- as a fourteen-year old eight grader. “You must work hard in order to succeed,” are words her parents always uttered, thus causing Maimouna to highly value education and aspire to evolve into a highly regarded neurosurgeon that will be seen by many as someone who changed the world in a positive aspect.
Although her life revolves around school, Maimouna is passionate about writing, enjoys listening to music produced by South Korean artists (known as K-pop), reading fictional novels, browsing [the internet] for interesting events, and binge watching entertaining and (occasionally) heart-wrenching Korean dramas that result in sudden outbursts of laughter or multiple attempts of preventing incessant tears.
She is currently anticipating positive responses from high schools she hopes will assure that her aspiration not be just a faint light at the end of a dark tunnel, but a bright one that’s so full of radiance, she can’t help but walk towards it. Maimouna hopes that volunteering to become a student reporter for LRSEF will aid her in not only gaining experience, but by proving her love for education.