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This Week's Whiz Kid: Stephanie Lupica

Stephanie has an open mind when it comes to both people and experiences and realizes that "you don't have to be exactly the same to understand someone."

Name: Stephanie Lupica, 17.

School: Bunnell High School.

Achievements:

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At Bunnell High School, Stephanie is not only an AP and Honors Student, but is also involved in various club activities.

She is the co-president of Alliance, Bunnell’s Gay-Straight Alliance. As co-president, she organizes club and community events to increase awareness about issues facing teens as a result of their sexual orientation, and other club concerns. An event she was particularly excited about was the Break the Silence event held in the Stratford Green on April 15th wherein more than 35 students gathered after a day of silence to acknowledged and discuss the realities of students who are bullied in their communities and online.

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Stephanie is also a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and SpeakEasy. SpeakEasy brings together a group of creative students and creates an environment wherein they share their poetry and short stories. The constructive criticism that they receive from their peers helps to develop and improve their writing skills.

Stephanie attended an event held by the Individual and Family Development Degree Department at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT where she presented on the topic of homosexuality.

As a member of Bunnell’s Model United Nations Team, Stephanie’s group represented Kyrgyzstan. As a member of the Human Rights Committee, the group spent a weekend at Yale University learning more about UN-related activities and procedures.

Stephanie is also a member of Bunnell’s Field Team.

Stephanie is an active member of BuildOn, which encourages local and international public service and the furthering of education and equality. In this capacity, Stephanie traveled to Nicaragua for two weeks with 20 other students from various Connecticut schools in order to build schools in a developing community. Upgrading from a flimsy shack, Stephanie told us “the new school became the most permanent structure in the community. We stayed with a Spanish-speaking host family in a stone house with a tin roof and a dirt floor.” She fondly recalls the “warmth and openness” of the host community. Their local community service includes helping at a food pantry and volunteering at the AIDS walk in New York City. When she is really busy, she logs onto www.freerice.com and helps to provide meals to families in need.

As a participant of the Stratford Library’s Creative Writing Workshop, Stephanie meets monthly with other teens to share and improve their writing. She has been published in the annual Varied Voices publication twice.

Once a week since November 2010, Stephanie has been an intern at The Parent’s Place at Stratford Academy where she helps 6th grade students transition and acclimate to middle school. These are students who may have behavioral problems, and participate in socializing and processing workshops.

Stephanie will be pursuing a Political Science degree at the University of Vermont. She was selected as part of a group of 160 incoming freshmen into the honors college which will require that she enroll in a more rigorous schedule than the average freshman. She is looking forward to this opportunity.

Her other activities include being president of the Adventure Challenge, an Intern for the Future Business Leaders of America since 2009, a reporter for the French Club since 2007, Treasurer of the Bunnell Student Government, and a former member of the Teen Dance Company and Connecticut Dance Conservatory.

Stephanie has received numerous awards including, an English 3 Honors Award, Future Global Leader Award, a Creative Writing Award, and an Advocate Award for 100+ hours of community service.

Key to Awesomeness:

Stephanie is involved in various activities and believes that it is through such varied involvement that one gains a more rounded and comprehensive knowledge. She says that she is “inspired by the human experience; the fact that although everyone is so different, we are all able to bond over something, no matter how small or large that something is.” She also has an open mind when it comes to both people and experiences and realizes that “you don’t have to be exactly the same to understand someone.”

Stephanie believes strongly in the goals of BuildOn, and therefore her interest in being involved with the organization comes naturally to her. She looks back on her trip to Nicaragua and recalls it both as “an amazing experience and opportunity. We all felt so successful at the end of the trip.” As a result, she urges “others to take any opportunity they can to travel to another country.”

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