By Ava Niemeyer, Interning Correspondent with The Apopka Voice
There are a lot of ways to describe Briana Fong. Goal-oriented, competitive, studious, and athletic, Fong is thoughtful through every step she takes going into her senior year of high school at Forest Lake Academy. And although her path was not easy, she overcame many obstacles along the way.
“I like doing what I can to get myself a head start in the future,” says Fong. “I want to get things done so that I don’t have to stress about it later.”
Fong has grown this work ethic of staying focused and prioritizing her time with support from an encouraging family. She has her mother, whom she says is her role model - inspiring her to be more like her every day. Her father, whom she’s said she’s grown up observing his work ethic, has been her inspiration to work as hard. She has a younger brother as well, for who she sets an example.
Briana Fong: “Every trial I always see the biggest blessing come out of it. It’s not always immediate, but it helps me learn a lot about myself.”[/caption]
Maintaining high academic success and keeping a 4.0 GPA throughout her first three years in high school, Fong strives to earn academic and leadership scholarships for college. Fong has taken on many positions, as well as balancing her school life.
Fong’s advice to incoming freshmen is to figure out how you study best.
“Once you know what works best for you,” Fong shares, “stick to it and it will help you succeed.”
Fong is hoping to attend either the University of North Florida or Southern Adventist University and wants to be a high school math or English teacher.
Her natural leadership came into play in fifth grade, teaching Sabbath school classes at her local church and eventually passing that torch down to her younger brother.
In eighth grade, Fong took on Youth Council, where a group of Christian youth comes together to help plan and execute events for their church’s youth. As a member, Brianna was made the leader of the Crosseyed committee - in charge of planning fun spiritual events for all kids in 7th grade and up.
Going into high school Fong made the National Honors society, leading out with NHS members in many community service activities and school events.
Not stopping there, Fong was made team captain of her soccer team and will be going into her second year as the team captain this season. Her goal for the team is to do better than their last few years, shooting for a winning season.
“Our team has been struggling since my freshman year,” Fong says, “It’s been really discouraging but I have high hopes for this year.”
Reflecting on all of her leadership positions, Fong expounds on her learning experiences throughout each one.
“All roles have taught me not to micro-manage,” explains Fong, “delegating is something that is important when leading - you need to divide the work so that it’s not all on one person’s back. You have to make sure everyone gives their input and gets an opportunity.”
Although there are the simpler aspects to leadership, Fong shares what area she’s had to grow the most.
“Something I don’t like is to be criticized,” Fong admits. “But when it’s constructive, it’s a good thing to receive and give so that you can do better later. In my committee, we make it a point to ask people what can be done better, what they might have disliked or liked, and how they suggest we improve it.”
But throughout this past year of COVID-19, leadership was made even harder for Fong.
“Dates would always change, you’d have to adapt and make adjustments. My mom always tells me to be flexible - sometimes your original plan doesn’t work out.”
All of these leadership positions have not been the only thing occupying Fong’s high school career. As if not busy enough, Fong has been struggling through mental and physical challenges.
Starting the summer of her freshman year of high school, Fong’s mother was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“It was hard to see her like that, but she was pretty optimistic,” Fong shares. “It was definitely a difficult time, but became a blessing.”
Her mother was unable to work for months, Fong’s dad helping out with his job as a caterer.
“There were definitely tears shed, but we grew spiritually and emotionally as a family.”
Thankfully, through many trials and family support, Fong’s mother is almost three years cancer-free and recently got her port removed, getting periodic checkups every few years to make sure she is healthy.
Fong’s positive and forward-thinking outlook continues to push through during even her hardest of struggles.
In order to cope with her stress, anger, anxiety, or any uncomfortable emotion, Fong began to rely on the distraction of her image - what she looked like and how much she weighed.
“Sophomore year I developed an eating disorder, it got really bad. It didn’t have a lot to do with school, it was just very easy for me to rely on it at the time,” Fong says. “It was definitely challenging. It took over everything, all my thoughts, and would progressively backfire.”
As COVID hit, Fong was eventually isolated and forced to continue school from her home. This made improving her mental health more difficult and eventually, her junior year came around.
“It would fluctuate throughout the year, I would relapse and go back to what I was doing sophomore year.”
Fong got help and had to educate herself a lot. Though the struggle is still slowly fading, Fong’s fight is not.
“I’m still getting through it, it was an unrealistic goal that I had set for myself.”
Fong has shifted her focus to no longer setting these unrealistic goals, such as losing an excessive amount of weight, always maintaining a perfect GPA, and getting a 33 on the ACT. Fong works on setting goals that are still challenging and push her to improve but will not break her mental health along the way.
As an efficient leader, hard-working student, and athlete, Fong grew strong enough to overcome life challenges that are both mentally and physically draining. She is always looking to grow and learn from her experiences.
“Every trial I always see the biggest blessing come out of it. It’s not always immediate, but it helps me learn a lot about myself.”
With her optimistic perspective, Fong hopes to continue working on her self-improvement, aiming for great academic achievements, having a winning soccer season, and building meaningful relationships.
Having been through so much and still standing with her head held high and a smile on her face, Briana Fong sets an inspiring example for everyone.
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