Mirna Obeid is a senior at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County, with a 4.58 weighted GPA. Mirna is a first-generation immigrant and a vibrant, hardworking, extraordinary young adult. Born in Syria, she moved to the U.S in 2016 at the end of her 6th grade. Placed in the English as a Second Language (ESOL) class, her teachers weren’t expecting her to take regular English classes until her sophomore year of high school, but her test scores showed enough proficiency for her to enroll in grade-level English classes in 8th grade. Despite the challenges of acclimating to her new environment in middle school, Mirna won the American Legion Award in her 8th-grade graduation.

In high school, Mirna took many challenging Honors and Advanced Placement courses and earned high scores and grades. She also took an Architecture class at a technology school and a Methods of Construction class at her community college through a scholarship.

In her thirst to constantly challenge herself, Mirna made it a mission to participate in many extracurricular activities to expand her knowledge and experience. She joined the her school’s debate club in her freshmen year and won three county-wide debates. She was part of the Student Government Association at her school, and interned for a county-wide college preparedness program – Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES). She is also pursuing many leadership positions as a founder and president of her school’s tutoring club, as president of the National Social Studies Honor Society school chapter, as treasurer of the National Honor Society school chapter, and as president of her technology school’s Skills USA chapter.

In addition to applying to 11 colleges during her senior year, Mirna balances her role in all of her leadership positions, takes two Advanced Placement classes, and works as a customer service representative on weekends to save for college.

Mirna intends to pursue a career in Architecture in hopes of bringing a divided world closer together through buildings that furnish positive societal growth and leave a positive impact on their inhabitants.

“With great dreams, ambitions, and willpower, the limit is no longer merely the sky, but beyond it.”