ADELA MIKELL

ok Editor-in-Chief and Dance on Co-Chair, Adela Mikell is ly a leader ame to Hammond in fourth grade er brother, and her sister joined e year so they could all be at nd together She danced, rating in ballet, for ten years until ered an injury that halted her Adela, an optimist, views it as a g in disguise: “I was able to put my he water of a bunch of different In the past few years, she has nnis, soccer, and golf She has nce in the latter sport due to her love of golf, something she does with her parents

She doesn’t take golf too seriously, though Instead of focusing on championships, Adela looks back at the friends she’s made along the way She is thankful that Hammond’s golf team is all levels combined because she was able to spend time with sixth graders and seniors alike She also appreciates how Hammond allowed her to join any sport she wanted “and not have to be perfect at all of it ” Adela describes herself as shy when she was younger: “even in middle school, I hadn’t really come out of my shell yet.” However, in high school she got involved in her “favorite thing Hammond offers:”

Dance Marathon

Every other year, Dance Marathon holds an eight-hour long dance party to raise money for the children’s hospital Last year, over $62,000 was raised. So, while Dance Marathon has helped kids, it’s also helped Adela come out of her shell and make new connections with her peers and teachers: “I think I just kind of found Dance Marathon as my way to get involved And from there I started getting involved in more and more things ” As she became more and more involved, her inner extrovert emerged, and she was able to connect with enough people to be voted homecoming queen

As the yearbook editor, Adela has worked to make the 2023 annual unforgettable She was the only junior on the staff last year, so, per tradition, she knew she would be the editor the next year With help from Ms Hansberry, the yearbook faculty advisor, and last year’s editors Sarah Haselden '22 and Peyton Vidrine '22, Adela was taught all the ropes to ensure “a smooth transition ”

She is incredibly thankful for the honor of being the editor, and also for “being able to go around and document so many important things from everybody’s lives that they’ll go back and look through when they’re older ”

When asked why she does so much, Adela responded she “hates saying no to anything ” While being a so-called ‘people-pleaser’ can be difficult, Adela views it as a blessing in disguise “People will rely on me to do stuff and I’ll make time for that.” For example, this past summer, while most were enjoying the last days of the vacation, Adela worked on painting signs to welcome everyone back to school

While Adela is always ready to take on a new challenge, she has struggled with public speaking As the senior representative for the Alumni Council, Adela was worried she would “mess up,” but relieved when she discovered the meetings were more of a conversation than a presentation She describes how she prefers to “say whatever [she] think[s] should be said” and “play it by ear” than read something written down, perhaps due to her genuine nature. Nevertheless, Adela overcame her fear for her senior speech earlier in the year.

Adela plans to attend either Wofford College or Clemson University, most likely the latter She applied to Clemson as an agricultural business major because of the possibilities she sees in the program: “I like the idea that I can do two things in the form of one major I could do business and I could do agriculture So later in life, I can either combine those two things or I can do them separately ”

However, in 2022, Adela attended Palmetto Girls State, a competitive program that introduces high school-aged girls in South Carolina to government. She was appointed to be on the Supreme Court at Girls State and found an interest in politics As of now, she’s “somewhere between agricultural business and law ”

Her advice to future seniors is to “try it ” She looks at the positive side of peer pressure, like at the club fair when she “feel[s] so pressure to sign up for different clubs ” Even if she isn’t as involved in some clubs as she is in others, she enjoys having a “small role ” However, she also encourages finding one club to get super involved in, like Dance Marathon, “that one thing that makes you go crazy inside ”