Rising Senior Amber Parkins Charts a Path for Leadership

Junior Amber Parkins stays busy with school and extra-curricular activities.

Junior Amber Parkins stays busy with school and extra-curricular activities.

There are students who build up a school culture through dedication to personal excellence and community well-being. Into this category at North Atlanta one finds Amber Parkins. The vivacious junior manages to juggle strong academic achievement with intense and broad levels of extra-curricular involvement.

To say she has a lot on her plate is an understatement. Parkins is FBLA Co-President, Vice President of Marketing for Junior Achievement, a member of the Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy and a member of Key Club.

“I think it’s important to be well-rounded and now that I’m going into my senior year I never want to have the feeling like I could have done more,” Parkins said. “The great thing about being involved is that it’s great to connect with both friends and new people. Beyond all that, I guess being busy is just kind of who I am.”

Because of all the stress and a significant number of activities, it’s no surprise that Parkins – when she has spare time – likes to wind down. She hangs out with friends and regards herself as a cinema buff. “I have a burning passion for films,” Parkins said.

Cinematic favorites include “Eat Pray Love”, “Love Jones,” The Godfather Trilogy, and the classic mobster movie “Scarface.” “It’s weird but when they have ‘Mob Week’ on A&E I always watch everything,” she said.

Parkins is in the school’s rigorous International Baccalaureate program. The program’s demands an academic commitment that requires her to spend most nights keeping up with her studies. “I can’t deny there have been many nights when I’m up until two or three in the morning,” she said. “Everyone says time-management is important, and I can assure you it is important. I don’t think I knew what I was getting into with IB but I do have to say that I love it.”

Her teachers have high praise for a student who shows such passion for learning and for activity. “She’s Miss Prim and Proper,” says business teacher Lorraine Bowen who serves as FBLA Advisor.

Parkins said she has a solid group of friends at school she relies on for support. “She’s very smart, she has a good work ethic and she is very funny,” said junior TiBerni Hall, one of Parkins’s closest friends. “Amber is the type of person who’s very level headed and I can always come to her with advice.”

As the school year wraps up, Parkins will be moving on to her final year of high school. “I’m hoping to have a productive senior year,” she said.

She expects the coming year will consist of the “never ending fun” of college applications and the ongoing search of scholarships. She plans to attend a prestigious university to study marketing and advertising with a minor in South American international affairs. “Once I’m out I hope to travel and dive into an exciting career,” she said.

All around the school, she is known to be a solid citizen with a great head on her shoulders. The future will soon be calling for a rising senior who continues to make her mark as a leader in the Class of 2016. “I’m looking forward to all that my senior year and beyond will bring me,” Parkins said.