Meet Elizabeth Potoa'e

Whiz Kid's name: Elizabeth Potoa'e

Whiz Kid's age: 16

Whiz Kid's school: Lakes High School

Whiz Kid's accomplishment: Elizabeth, a junior, is Lakes’ junior class president. She balances a full academic load that includes three Advanced Placement classes with myriad extracurricular activities. Among them are Key Club, French Club, B.O.S.S. (Blue and Orange Scream/Spirit Squad) and cheerleading. She is also an Ignite Mentor.

“Junior year is hard,” she admitted. “It’s no joke – but it’s given me a wake-up call as to what to expect in college and life beyond it … It’s going pay off, and that’s what I’m waiting for.”

After high school, Elizabeth plans to attend a four-year university – “I truthfully don’t know where; I have to see where/what interests me and will help me be what I want to be in the future” – and has expressed an interest in studying law.

Whiz Kid's key to awesomeness: Elizabeth credits God and her family for her success. She describes her parents as “supportive and hardcore” and her siblings as what keep her going. While Elizabeth admits that she and her brothers and sisters bicker and fight “over the dumbest things,” she added that at the end of the day, family is all you truly have, “and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

She works closely with her older sister at school since Margie, a senior, is Lakes’ ASB president.

“I like having her as president,” Elizabeth said of her sister, who got her into student government as a freshman. “She’s going what she does best and I get to live it with her and it’s teaching me a lot along the way.”

As for her own experience as class president, Elizabeth said that it is a true team effort and that all of the junior-class officers are bright and determined to get the work done.

“It’s not really about the amount of authority – or title – but the amount of impact and influence you have on others,” she said. “I love it.”

Elizabeth was steadfast that no list of those playing a role in her own accomplishments would be complete without the fictional wizard Harry Potter and his creator, author J.K. Rowling.

“(The characters) have kept me strong throughout everything,” she said, “and they’re an amazing contributing factor to any awesomeness I possess.”