An overall great kid

from Upgraded Living - February 2023 Issue

The passion of Loki miller

When Amaya Lewis said the novel Blood on the River was one of her favorites, the title caught our attention and imagination right away. What type of story is this? Well, it’s the story of 12 year old Samuel Collier and his exploits with Captain John Smith in the Virginia Colony during the 1600’s. It is definitely a good read!

Since reading is one of Amaya’s favorite pastimes—along with anime, gaming, and playing the trumpet—it’s easy to see why this diverse 10 year old does well in school and enjoys being a student at McManus Elementary in Emily McEnaney’s class. “I want to become a better reader,” said Amaya. “To do that I need to practice reading every day for twenty minutes at least,” she added. Principal Chris Weaver seconded this example of dedication and described Amaya’s presence at school.

“She’s a quiet leader and everything we look for in a student at McManus. She raises the bar here, being a leader both in terms of behavior and leading by example,” he said.

A perfect example of Amaya’s personality is when the band teacher asked her to join the school band. She instantly agreed and went home to inform her parents. “She came in and told us she was invited to play in the band and was going to play the trumpet,” said her father, Jordan. Her mother Jasmin, sister Ava, and brother Jordan, Jr. complete the family.

Attending McManus since kindergarten has enabled Amaya to make quite a few friends. Many of those friends share reading and math classes with her, which happen to be her favorites. “We’re studying mixed fractions in math, and with the bigger numbers it can be a challenge,” she said. Other challenges are being on the school yearbook staff, where she helps with the page layouts, interviewing kids for articles, and covering the many school clubs. She also enjoys being part of the school news team, both behind and in front of the camera, where broadcasts are sent into every classroom. One aspect of school Amaya is definitely proud of is never having found herself in trouble at McManus. “I’ve never had a detention or been sent to the office,” she said.

As far as outside of school interests, she loves anime, especially Naruto, a show about a young ninja, and Romantic Killer (nothing like its title implies), featuring high schooler Anzu Hoshin. A special favorite is My Hero Academia, where a young boy enrolls in a school where all the students have special powers. When asked what power she’d like to have, Amaya replied, “I’d like to be able to turn into different animals.”

As for the future, Amaya would like to become a pastry chef and travel the world. “I’d like to go to Japan and create a pastry no one has ever made before,” she said. “I’m a funny person,” she added. People should get to know me and be my friend.”

Bring Us Home

Butte County has an inordinately high number of animals in need of adoption due to a number of factors including wildfires, floods, and irresponsible breeding. Please consider adoption as an option for increasing the love in your own household. These soon-to-be pets can be adopted by contacting the Northwest SPCA at (530) 533-7636. You can also visit their website at www.northwestspca.org