Meet Monroe Harless, a senior at Buford High School. Monroe was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Mark and Kelly Harless and moved to Washington D.C when she was a year old. Monroe was raised in this beautiful city until her family made the move to Gwinnett, where she attended Gwinnett County Schools through the seventh grade. Monroe first began at Buford Middle School in eighth grade.
Monroe is dynamic at Buford High School, accomplishing greatness in the academics, athletics and arts. Academically, Monroe holds an unweighted 4.0 GPA, while keeping up rigorous coursework, for example, the nine AP classes she has taken all through high school as well as the numerous honors courses. In fact, Monroe was awarded with the AP Scholar with Distinction Award for her AP exam scores.
Monroe said Mr. Wig and Mrs. Harris are her favorite teachers.
“Mr. Wig made math something more than a chore for me and I looked forward to AP Stat with him,” Monroe said. “And Mrs. Harris cared about me beyond just teaching me the material for an AP exam; she was very invested in my life beyond school.¨
Outside the classroom, Monroe continues to exceed expectations and thrives as a member of the student body. Monroe participates in dance, an activity she has participated in for 10 years now. She grew up at the Buford School of Ballet, where she trained intensively for six years. Currently, Monroe takes part in the Buford dance program and is involved with the various dance shows throughout the year.
“Dance has taught me a level of discipline that I think has followed me since I was seven” Monroe said. “Ballet can be extrapolated to real life necessities, such as being on time and listening to instructors. Dance has influenced and ultimately taught me a discipline that has been heightened beyond something I could have never learned in high school.”
Alongside dance, Monroe participates in many extracurricular activities. Monroe has been in the Buford dance program for four years, Beta Club for two years, National Honor Society for two years and she has held a leadership position for the Thespian Society for four years. As a thespian officer, Monroe plans monthly meetings and helps teach the junior thespians at the middle school.
When asked about her favorite subject, Monroe said, “My favorite subject has always been language arts because it is a class that I can enjoy; it is something that I have a knack for and I understand really well. I love to read, specifically poetry and Shakespeare, and language arts has always been a class that I’ve been completing the work for even if it wasn’t assigned in the classroom.”
In her free time, Monroe enjoys volunteering for her community, leading a small group at Gwinnett Church and serving as a speaker in the student ministry department.
After high school, Monroe plans to attend college where she will be able to earn a dual degree in theatre and political science. While these two majors appear to have nothing in common, Monroe was able to take her two passions and find a good mix between the two through her involvement in the BHS Literary Team.
“Literary was a real life chance to see tangibly if theatre and political science would connect in some way and for me they did,” she said. “It is my way of molding my two passions together and literary showed me that it would work.”
Monroe has clearly demonstrated her accolades as a student and as an individual. She is an outstanding student and well-rounded person who will without a doubt become a successful leader. We can only imagine what she will do with her life when she leaves Buford High School and encounters the world. What we know for certain, however, is that Monroe will transcend even the highest of expectations in whatever path she chooses. Congratulations, Monroe!
— Emily Hammond
