Jilene Guiao goes above and beyond than what the average teen at MTHS achieves while keeping a bright smile on her face. If you could only use one word to describe Jilene Guiao, “active” would still be an understatement.
By the time the final bell rings, Guiao has already taken 7 classes, among those including two AP classes; AP Chemistry and AP Psychology, but her day is far from over. She is involved in several clubs and activities at MTHS. Guiao represents our school among the other high schools of our district by being an Inter-High Representative.
She has shown her high achievements in academics through her involvement in Honors Society, which she has been apart of ever since her sophomore year. She is currently the treasurer of Honors Society. Guiao has shown her leadership skills through her involvement in FCCLA club, where she is currently the secretary.
Another important activity that her peers relate her to is dance. She was a member of the Hip-Hop club at MTHS from her freshman to junior year, but had to put her involvement of the club on the back burner in order to focus on her senior project, which, of course, was about dance.
For her culminating project, she created a dance club at Brier Terrace Middle School where she taught young student dancers how to perform a dance routine. “It was amazing seeing them grow,” Guiao said. She took her senior project one step further and had her dance team perform at their middle school assembly and at the Multi-Cultural night at MTHS. “It was fun dancing where it all began, back in middle school,” Guiao said.
For Guiao, dance was more than something that was just fun. It was something that helped her overcome her sadness early in her life. She moved several times during her years spent in elementary school. Guiao said that she moved so much that it became normal for her to be at one school for one year only, but she finally remained at one school for a while. “There was a time span of about three years I was actually at a school when I was gaining friends and wouldn’t have the move the next year,” Guiao said. “So when it came to fifth grade, I had to move from them and that broke my heart and made me really depressed,” she said.
In the beginning of middle school, things remained the same. Guiao said she was “lonely” and “didn’t make any friends.” You can’t tell today that the girl with arguably the best smile in MTHS would be so deserted ever.
She remembers the turning point for her being “Mrs. Russell’s dance class” in middle school. One of her few friends, Shawn Semana, persuaded her to join dance. “I liked moving around and expressing myself,” Guiao said. “Pretty much dancing helped me to express myself and feel known.”
Since her turning point, Guiao has maintained high grades and has taken AP classes since her sophomore year. She also works as a cashier at Grocery Outlet.
Jilene Guiao is extremely active, but with lots of time spent on activities, stress in not far behind her. “You will doubt, you will feel overwhelmed with everything,” Guiao said. “You just have to surround yourself with good supportive people and have faith in yourself…you just got to motivate yourself.”
Guiao will attend the University of Washington where she plans to submerge herself into their nursing program.
