Leona Khodabakhshi is an 11th grader at Glendale High School. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and she currently lives in Glendale, California. She’s the president of the Book Club, and she loves to read books. She describes her leadership style as a desire to “delegate and make sure everybody has a job.”
You should join our GHS Book Club if you’re interested in reading or if you want to get back into reading. Leona is not the founder of the Book Club, but last year’s president passed the club on to her, because she wanted to take it on, and most of her friends are in the club, too.
Leona is also involved in ASB, lacrosse, the Future Doctor of America Club, and the American Red Cross Club. “Each of them has sort of prepared me for any role of leadership,” she said. Those clubs have helped her develop a sense of leadership online, and they taught her how to work with different people.
Being a club leader is a little difficult for Leona, but she admits that “it’d be way more difficult if we were actually in the school, because online is definitely giving me different opportunities.”
Book Club is where people can come together and decide what books to read. They can also read books that they wouldn’t normally read, so that they will go out of their comfort zones and pick up books that they normally wouldn’t. Being a member of Book Club helps you get a better understanding of certain books, and sometimes members talk about the books that they like best.
Right now, Leona and her club members are reading a book called Penpal, and then they will conduct activities that are tied to it. After they finish reading this novel, they hope that they can watch a movie that is related to Penpal in some way.
Leona has found that some people in the club are not okay with sharing their addresses with people who are not in state. However, they have adapted it to where people can use email instead of physical letter writing, and some people use the chat if their microphone is not working.
The biggest problem that Leona is facing with Book Club is participation, because many members are busy with online school and it has been difficult for them. For example, in the Penpal activity, some members don’t send letters and it’s bad for their partners because they are not going to experience it.
Leona thinks that the future is quite uncertain, because in the summertime, she had no idea that her junior year was going to be this way, and she’s scared of the road ahead.
Leona believes that after graduating from high school, she will apply to a four-year university to study medicine, because she’s interested in science. She wants to help people as a psychiatrist.
In 10 years, Leona sees herself living on her own and “out of college, but definitely pursuing medicine and keeping in touch with my family.”
If you’re interested in joining Book Club, please contact club advisor, Mr. Gebeshian, at [email protected].
