| Athena of the Month: Eba By: Eunice Kim Eba is nothing short of a supergirl when it comes to balancing all of her commitments as a Junior in high school, whether it comes to academics, religion or simply having fun. Though only a 16-year-old attending South High School in Torrance, CA, Eba’s assertive leadership qualities have earned her the respect of many of her older peers. Just last summer she was the youngest member of a humanitarian team sent out by a local church to Thailand. With a small team of eight Eba taught English in an elementary school, took care of children in a local orphanage and visited various Christian ministries devoted to providing homes and jobs for prostitutes in Bangkok. Using this invaluable experience, Eba has been taking action while back in the States. Just recently she gave a speech at the Rotary International Del Amo Division concerning the urgent help needed by the victims of the tourist sex trade in Thailand. This goes to show how anyone, no matter how young, can expand their horizons to include the whole world. Eba also manages to help out in the smaller scales of her city in Southern California. She’s the Vice President of the Speech and Debate Team, a member of Academic Decathlon in her high school and recently one of the winners in the Visions of Unity Essay Contest. But for Eba religion and community are closely interconnected in her life, which explains why most of her involvements are based on humanitarian relief. Currently she helps out at Community Helpline where people from around town can talk to someone on staff about any kind of problem. Just last week she was involved in the Thirty Hour Famine, which is a church-hosted program based on fasting and arduous fundraising to raise awareness and help alleviate poverty around the world. Yet despite her intense dedication, Eba is known for all the fun she creates wherever she goes. In order to raise funds for the various relief teams she has been part of, Eba planned café nights and karaoke nights, charming everyone with her spontaneity as an MC and her innovative ways of getting people to have fun and support a worthy cause at the same time. It doesn’t take much to get Eba interested in taking action. “When no one else is in charge of an event or when there is no leader, I usually find a way to help out,” she says. In her free time, she enjoys performing with her own garage band in which she plays bass guitar, though her other musical talents include singing and dancing. So what is our Athena of the Month up to now? Well, this summer she’ll be going to Cambodia with the same team as last summer (with whom she’ s already been to places as diverse as Mexico and Thailand) and in the long- term, she hopes to become a veterinarian and continue bringing smiles to the faces around her. |
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