Alexis Magnano received the 2023 NHS Service Pillar award.

The four pillars of NHS—scholarship, service, leadership, and character—have guided my high school experience and, together, will serve as a foundation for my future endeavors. I appreciate how these four pillars complement one another, combining to create an exceptional platform for intellectual and personal growth.

My commitment to the scholarship pillar began in high school. I have consistently taken the most challenging coursework my school offers. That hard work paid off in the form of a full academic scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I’m now in my first year.

Scholarship in Science

For me, scholarship is about the process—the diligence and persistence involved in conducting background research, reading critically, and drawing conclusions. Scholarship takes time, patience, and curiosity. Beyond classroom instruction, I was a regular at teacher office hours where I had opportunities to pose in-depth questions. I also extended my learning outside the classroom through science fair competitions, Model United Nations, Future Business Leaders of America, and my work with refugee populations. In 2021, I was honored to have been selected to participate in the Harvard Science Research Conference, which motivated me to pursue research opportunities outside of school.

One such opportunity was my collaboration with researchers at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville, FL, studying stroke risk factors in patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent the Watchman procedure to reduce the risk of stroke. Our data were submitted to the 2023 Conference of the American College of Cardiology. Serving as a researcher in this process enabled me to use the tools that I learned in my AP statistics course to review and analyze data to make conclusions that could help patients live healthier lives. This project helped me to understand the real-world applications of my classwork, translating research into practice.

Magnano speaks during NASSP’s Trailblazing Leadership Week last April in Washington, D.C.

Serving My Community

The pillar of service is close to my heart, as I have made a longstanding commitment to serve my community. I became a Girl Scout at age 4 and continued my involvement for 14 years, earning Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards. I also spent years serving as a lecturer, acolyte, and teacher in my church. As a founding member and current co-president of JaxTHRIVE, a student-led nonprofit organization that provides mentoring and tutoring services for refugee and low-income students, I have served both my school and my community.

I also started JaxTHRIVE Journeys, an interactive lecture series that shares the history and politics of our refugees’ home countries, highlighting their cultures through food and traditions. In partnership with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Florida Education Fund, I served as an advocate, encouraging refugees and communities of color to vote in elections. My advocacy consisted of calls to potential voters and serving as a poll monitor to protect their safety.

Most recently, I was invited as the keynote speaker for an Open World program conference. I shared how we started our nonprofit and discussed how a similar program could be established in Moldova for Ukrainian refugees who have crossed the border because of the war with Russia.

Leveraging Leadership

Recognizing that leadership is critically important to serving as a productive and effective community member prompted me to pursue regional and national leadership programs. At my school, I participated in student government—I was elected by my classmates to serve as their class co-president in my sophomore and junior years and treasurer/secretary during my senior year. I was also a member of our principal’s School Advisory Council, providing student insight and advocating for school-related issues in regular monthly meetings. It has been an honor to serve as a liaison between my classmates and our faculty and administration.

During my sophomore year, I was selected to serve as a school representative to Youth Leadership Jacksonville, where one Thursday each month is dedicated to leadership training. In this program, we learned about ways various business leaders and public servants play an important role in our local society.

Last summer, I was chosen to participate in the Bank of America Student Leaders internship program. I was assigned to be a teaching assistant with Communities in Schools, a nonprofit dedicated to helping students in high-poverty schools make academic progress during the summer. Seeing the day-to-day operations of a nonprofit helped me understand the commitment it takes to fund and operate such an organization.

Finally, I was honored to be selected for the 2021 Unsung Covid Heroes Award as one of six Northeast Florida individuals—and the only teen—to receive this distinction. The award recognizes individuals who made creative contributions to underserved populations during the pandemic, and I won it for bringing my “Smart Art” education program that introduces STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) projects to the children residing at the St. Augustine Homeless Coalition.

Character Counts

In my opinion, the character pillar transcends all the others, and enhances scholarship, leadership, and service activities with honor and integrity. Last year, I was nominated by my school to receive the Character Counts Award twice, once for responsibility and again for trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

I also believe empathy is a key aspect of character. We all carry our own baggage, backgrounds, influences, and privileges. For some, the biggest challenge may be economic uncertainty, while for others it may be a learning disability, a health problem, or even social acceptance. Whatever the circumstance, the things we carry may not be apparent, but they matter. We owe it to each other to withhold judgment so that we can better understand the values, ideals, and perspectives of those who come from a place that differs from our own lived experience.

Personal character is the bedrock of our society—and the most important attribute of our citizens and leaders. Unfortunately, we live in a society where character is under siege. Misinformation and slanderous comments reflect failures of character. Serving my community has enabled me to showcase reliability, respectfulness, and responsibility—traits unique to the NHS character pillar. Exhibiting the highest level of character is an obligation we have to one another. It’s likely the greatest lesson I have learned from my NHS experience and one that has certainly laid the foundation for my personal and professional goals.

Alexis Magnano is a freshman Robertson Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, and a graduate of Ponte Vedra High School in Ponte Vedra, FL. She is a 2023 NHS Scholarship winner and the recipient of the NHS Service Pillar award.