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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Emma Flolo
By JoEllen Collins for The Weekly Sun
Wood River High School senior Emma Flolo is finding that her life is full of exciting learning experiences despite her heavy academic load.
“I am taking several AP classes,” Flolo said. “I love AP Psychology and AP Government, but my favorite course was AP U.S. History. We read history from varied perspectives and acknowledged different viewpoints in an analytical manner. Classes like this require a lot of energy; they are stressful but doable. Now I aim to teach history.
“I hope eventually to teach overseas, and so would learn how to teach English as a Second Language,” she said. “I like the idea of traveling and immersing myself in other cultures.”
Flolo enjoys other school activities, which require her dedication and energy.
She won a scholarship from the Sun Valley Summer Symphony to receive voice lessons for three years. She is a section leader of the girls’ voice ensemble, Colla Voce, which won gold and first place and best overall group last year at the World Heritage Festival in Anaheim, Calif.
“I credit Mr. Stimac, the Colla Voce teacher, coach, and my mentor since the sixth grade, with encouraging me and the other singers to do our best, making this my most important activity,” she said.
“I have experienced the joy of singing with others and also the close relationships this gives me,” Flolo said. “This past semester we were devastated by the sudden passing of one of our former members, Mr. Stimac’s daughter, Ollie, and yet we were able to gather together with a very loving and positive response. Ollie had been such an inspiration to us all. While we mourned together, we also realized that we had been lucky to have the gift of Ollie’s beauty and friendship.
“Close ties to others are essential to dealing with such grief, so seeing Mr. Stimac and the family carry on through this horrible tragedy with courage and strength was an example for the rest of my life.”
Flolo also finds strength in participating in sports and volunteer work.
“I love basketball,” she said. “I have the position of a post on Wood River’s 4A girls’ team; we haven’t had a really strong year yet, but I feel we are improving. At a Christmas tournament we won two of three games, losing the first by only one point in the last few seconds, and recently we won a game against Kimberly High School.”
Last summer Flolo was employed at the Blaine County Recreation District Kids’ Camp at the Community Campus.
“I worked with all ages, especially first to fourth graders,” she said. “We went to parks, on field trips and to places like Craters of the Moon. It was fun.”
Flolo has three older brothers and a younger sister in the seventh grade.
“Perhaps the best recent event in my life was becoming an auntie to two fraternal twin boys,” she said. “As preemies, they spent 65 days at Saint Alphonsus [Regional Medical Center in Boise]. But all is well now, and we are all enjoying our time together.”
Each week, JoEllen Collins will be profiling a local high-school student. If you know someone you'd like to see featured, e-mail joellencollins1@gmail.com.