AUSTIN, Texas -- Makayla Chamberlain is not only involved in a number of groups at Hendrickson High School--she’s in charge of many of them.
“I’ve always been a more natural leader because I’m just loud,” says Chamberlain. “I’m very much an extrovert.”
Chamberlain is the student body president, a member of the National Honor Society and an AP Ambassador, just to name a few of the organizations she’s a part of.
“Once I saw the stuff I was doing was paying off and changing the campus, it was kind of addicting,” Chamberlain added.
One of her biggest and most rewarding projects was being the president of the Unified Champions at Hendrickson. It’s a group that strives to make their campus inclusive for students with and without disabilities. Hendrickson was recognized by ESPN and Special Olympics as one of the top 5 schools in the nation for inclusion.
“It was crazy because we’ve only been doing it for a year, Unified just took off and it was awesome,” said Chamberlain.
Chamberlain keeps herself incredibly busy. Not only is she involved in all these organizations, but she maintains a 3.9 GPA and has done volunteer work around the community. She also has been on the Hendrickson softball team the past four years.
Her senior season was cut off early this year because of the pandemic shutdown and she said it was very sad because she may not play softball again. But her teammates and coaches acted quickly to give Chamberlain and the seniors a special send-off in their final game.
“Seeing everybody come together and put together a senior night was awesome and it meant a lot to the seniors,” Chamberlain said.
Next year, Chamberlain plans to attend Texas A&M University, where she wants to major in physics and minor in astronomy.
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