By Chhanraskmey Chhoun

Many LHS seniors may be confused about what they want in high school, but this senior knows what she wants to do afterward.

Sunlyna Chhoun has her head wrapped around helping the people.

Sunlyna, a bright 17-year-old senior, has been thinking about her future for a long time. As early as childhood she knew that she would like to some day work for people as a civil servant. A civil servant is a person who works for government to help the community.

She is currently enrolled in her high school’s JROTC program.  Sunlyna wishes for this program to lead her into the civil servant career path that she has dreamt to pursue since childhood.

The Lowell Police Academy, a summer program in which she worked over the summer, trained her to teach youth about leadership and aiding others.  It reinforced her focus on civil service.

Sunlyna also shared her aspirations and inspirations.

She had a knack for helping people as a young child, Sunlyna said.

“I wanted to be a lot of things,” she explained, “ I wanted to be a cowgirl, then I wanted to be a doctor, then I wanted to be a firefighter, then I wanted to be a police officer, now a lawyer.”

Your mother and celebrities come to mind when people think about inspirations, the following people molded who Sunlyna wanted to become.

“Mom, because who wouldn’t, and without her, I’d be a dropout and pregnant. Greta Garbo, because she is not afraid to do what she wants and to let gender tell her who she could and could not date, and she does not need a man. Marilyn Monroe, size does not matter, it didn’t matter to her.”,

Sunlyna admired these women for doing what they felt was right. Her mother had raised two young children at a young age.  She admired Greta Garbo for standing up for her beliefs and values as a queer woman, and then Marilyn Monroe for accepting herself, especially her celebrity.

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