As Associated Study Body (ASB) president, DECA member, and a positive light in the Camas community, Camas High School (CHS) senior Emily Parker has excelled throughout her high school career in a variety of ways. Parker has prioritized staying involved and having a positive impact on the community overall.
“That’s my biggest thing for sure. I like to be really involved in general,” Parker said.
Parker has been a part of ASB since her sophomore year where she had to be interviewed in order to be selected for the team. She began as a student representative, then became the vice president, and has now spent her senior year dedicating her time to the responsibility of being the ASB president.
The role of ASB president comes with various responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is required service hours. These hours often include service for the school, specifically when it comes to planning and organizing.
“I’d say I’ve easily put in about 200 hours of service just for ASB alone,” Parker said.
Parker also oversees the endless planning and organizing that happens behind the scenes in ASB. She has helped plan the school board updates where they meet with the school board monthly to discuss the recent news from CHS. She has also helped plan the assemblies which often take over a month to plan and fun events such as the Senior Olympic games.
“One of the things we do is a lot of behind the scenes stuff so that the fun stuff can happen,” Parker said.
Parker’s leadership and bright energy have allowed her to give speeches and lead events in fun and inclusive ways. She has clearly left a positive impact on the school as well as her peers.
“She brings her leadership skills, knows how to rally the troops, and she brings organization,” Valerie Parbon, ASB advisor, said. “ I just really appreciate her passion and she’s been a glue to the school.”
“When she and I get to interact with my treasurer duties, she’s always there and shows up ready to do anything,” Reagan Sheffield, CHS ASB treasurer and senior, said.
Along with her work in ASB, Parker has committed many hours to DECA. She has been on the DECA management team for all four years of her high school career.
“We plan different fun DECA events around here like All Paws On Deck and stuff like that,” Parker said.
Parker also competed in DECA starting her sophomore year. Her responsibilities for this are writing a 20 page paper about a business as well as attending study sessions to prepare for competition. Her hard work at DECA not only allowed her to compete at State, but also at the international level.
“I think DECA helped me a lot with my public speaking and confidence,” Parker said. “This is really important because as ASB president I have to do a lot of public speaking so these definitely went hand in hand.”
As Parker concludes her time at CHS, she will take her work ethic onto the next level. She will be going overseas to attend Duke Kunshan University and study international business.
“Being able to attend such a prestigious university while also getting the experience I wanted is probably the best outcome possible so I am very excited.” Parker said.
As Parker ventures off to her exciting future in China, it is without a doubt that she has left her mark at CHS and will always be looked at as a positive role model in the CHS community.
