Meet Emily Hammond, a BHS Senior intern for the North Gwinnett Voice. Emily has an older brother, Kevin, a senior at the University of North Georgia, and an older sister, Sarah, a senior at the University of Georgia. Both of Emily’s siblings were Buford High School graduates, and Emily will be joining them in that honor this upcoming Spring. Emily was born in Newark, New Jersey, but she was raised in Flowery Branch. Emily is a lifetimer at Buford, meaning she has been a Wolf from Kindergarten to Senior Year.
Emily is a very busy student, balancing academics, sports, and extracurriculars. Emily started playing soccer when she was four years old, and she continues playing through high school. She played Varsity soccer in her Freshman and Sophomore year, taking a break for Junior year. However, she plans to play again in her senior year. Playing Varsity will add another ten hours a week to her already busy schedule, but it is not a problem for her, as she has had continued academic success throughout high school.
In addition to athletics, Emily also participates in a multitude of clubs at the high school. She has been in Beta Club for three years, Key Club for three years, and National Honors Society for two years. Emily also founded the Book Club at Buford, of which she is also a Co-President. Her club work has involved extensive community service, totaling over two hundred hours over the three-year span. Emily also works as a hostess at a restaurant in Flowery Branch, and she was just recently promoted to be a server after a year and three months of working there.
In her free time, Emily loves to read books, play video games, and spend time with her friends, family, and German Shepherd, River. She is also a self-proclaimed Netflix addict. Her favorite shows to watch are Grey’s Anatomy and Stranger Things
Even with such a busy schedule, Emily still maintains her academic success. She has kept an unweighted 4.0 GPA through high school while having a rigorous schedule. Her favorite subject in school is math. She explains, “My favorite subject is math because it’s like a giant puzzle. All the problems for every unit are almost identical once you learn how to solve them.” Part of this love for math can be attributed to her AP Statistics teacher, Mr. Kent Wiginton. Mr. Wig is Emily’s favorite teacher at Buford. She explains how he is always supportive and understanding of his students in the classroom. Emily says she would always go in early to his class in the morning for help, and he never once judged her or doubted her abilities. He continuously offered her his support, and he was dedicated to her success. She credits him as the reason that she scored a 4 on the AP Statistics exam.
After high school, Emily plans to attend the University of Georgia. She wants to study a major related to math, such as finance. She is also interested in a journalism-related major, with a possible minor in Spanish. Emily’s love for math is what has piqued her interest in these majors. She thinks that a math-related field would be appealing because it is one of her strongest qualities. However, she also thinks that she would enjoy majoring in journalism and pursuing a career related to writing because it could make her happy later in life.
Emily was interested in the North Gwinnett Voice BHS Internship because she wanted to see how she really felt about a major in journalism, and if it is something that she might wish to pursue in the future. Besides this, she knew that the internship would help strengthen her writing, speaking, and communication skills.
