Gabriella Mbaoua is a senior at Urbana High School. Heavily involved in the community between a leadership role in French Club, an editing position on the yearbook and many parts in theater productions over the years, the time she has spent at UHS has been a wild ride. This year, she ran her club’s holiday party and assisted them in raising around 300 dollars. “I really enjoy French Club because it allows me to be creative in the French language and create games and activities,” She said. Gabriella has her phone language switched to French, too- in an attempt to become fluent, you’d notice from a glance her messages down to her notes app are in French!

Gabriella’s love for the French language translates to her music taste, too; lots of the songs she listens to are French, like Ecoute Mon Coeur by Ria Bartok. When she isn’t trying to become fluent, though, she often finds herself listening to showtunes. “I’ve seen Mean Girls and Lion King live, but my top three musicals are Shrek the Musical, Legally Blonde and Miss Saigon.” When asked if she had hobbies, she laughed and replied “if you consider singing show tunes in the shower a hobby, then yeah.”

As the end of senior year creeps in, Gabrellia has a lot to look forward to. After being accepted into her dream school at NorthEastern University in Boston, she’s looking towards the future. “I’m definitely approaching the senoritis era… High school is a forethought now.” As she plans to major in journalism, her writing in this newspaper is perhaps a glimpse into her bright future in the field. We at the Hawkeye can’t wait to see what she has in store.