Junior Priscilla Perey Ratonel organized a voter registration drive. 

Ratonel organized the drive because she wanted to give back to the community and help people create a society that they want to live in. The voter registration drive took place under T building in September at lunch time. Ratonel registered around 40 voters.

Ratonel said it was fun and she created connections that will help her in the future. She found out she had to use a multitude of connections in the school and in her life to get advice and support in setting up a time and place, and to rally the support of teachers. It was a long process, getting everything approved and constantly checking in to make sure everything ran smoothly.

“It was worth it to even get one registration and encourage others to let their voices be heard,” said Ratonel.

Ratonel said the most fun part of the voter registration drive was finding out the amount of impact she could make and how the staff supported her. The least fun part was setting up the booth because she had only lunch time to do it, so it was stressful.

“It taught me to be more open to social interaction than I was initially comfortable with, but if you truly believe in an idea, you should advocate for it and do what you can to make it a reality,” Ratonel said. “I found that also reaching out to others to support you is a great idea and I wish I had done it more to spread the influence I was trying to create. “

Reading, creative writing, and playing music are Ratonel’s hobbies. She developed these hobbies at a young age since was exposed to books which led to her wanting to write her imagination down on paper to see what she could make. Music was encouraged by her parents to her since preschool. She started off by playing rhythm games into playing the violin from elementary to middle school. She’s in band and plays percussion instruments since moving here to Hawaii from California in seventh grade. 

“It’s interesting to see how the fine arts affect the world and the individuals. It also helps me to know the struggle of artists of any kind as well as fully appreciate their art,” said Ratonel.

Ratonel’s proudest achievements are finding her close friends who stay with her through rough times and maintaining her grades when she has a lot of things going on in her personal life. 

“It’s better to just be open as a person and let your personality be free so that people who want to get to know you will make the effort on their own terms,” Ratonel said.