From fundraisers to food drives, Severna Park High senior is born leader
As a Key Club member, Severna Park High School senior Allison Chang devoted much of her time and energy to chairing committees for two of the organization’s annual fundraisers — October’s Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive and February’s glamorous Prom Fashion Show.
“Academically, I’m good at math and science and enjoy my STEM classes. But I also like using my organizational skills to lead projects that benefit the community,” Allison said.
Assuming leadership positions is familiar ground for her. As Key Club “editor,” she’s responsible for inter-club communications and for photographing and chronicling members’ activities for the international organization’s district convention.
She also holds officer positions in the SPHS chapters of the Science National Honor Society and the Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society), where she helps plan educational events and student trips and assists with elementary school science fairs.
By the beginning of fall semester, planning was already underway for the Harvest for the Hungry drive that collects food and raises money for the Anne Arundel County Food Bank.
Allison said her committee scheduled the drive for October ahead of the holiday season to ensure the food bank had enough provisions to last through the end of 2019.
“We did well, collecting food and money on a school-wide basis,” she recalled. “It was fun coming up with innovative fundraising approaches like a ‘Miracle a Minute’ contest to see who could raise the most money in 60 seconds — which netted us $2,000 that was matched by the SGA.”
The committee also coordinated with teachers for classroom donation competitions, collected money at sports games, and hosted “restaurant nights.” All told, the Harvest for the Hungry food drive raised $14,000 for the food bank and numerous pounds of food.
Allison took a breather over the holidays. But, by mid-January, she was leading regular committee meetings for the Key Club’s “Under The Sea Prom Fashion Show.”
She was busy recruiting models, procuring gowns and tuxes courtesy of local retailers, arranging for models’ hair and makeup with area salons, and working with donations coordinator Maya Kang to line up vendors and raffle donations.
Senior Abby Omer, Key Club vicepresident and a model in this year’s prom fashion show, considers Allison’s commitment to whichever charity she’s involved with admirable.
“A lot of work is involved in heading the committees and organizing the events. In spite of her academic workload and internships, Allison attends or helps with every event, which takes a lot of dedication. For multiple years, she either co-led or led Harvest for the Hungry and the fashion show and made them fun,” Omer said.
Held Feb. 7, the prom fashion show came off beautifully. Backed by student band Jamland, male and female student models showed off a series of great gowns and tuxedos — including two of SPHS junior Ellie Heath’s elegant designs and one of sophomore Helena Linnick’s creations. For an added treat, a “mini-models” segment featured children modeling party-perfect fashions.
The show raised $4,000 for the March of Dimes, bringing the total amount donated by the club over a period of 15 years to $30,000, according to Key Club adviser Teri Ann Stahl.
As always, despite Allison’s busy schedule, academics come first during senior year. Some students tend to relax as graduation approaches. But not Allison, who added challenging courses to her schedule.
She’s simultaneously taking classes at Anne Arundel Community College and will graduate with an associate’s degree in May ahead of her high school graduation.
Allison is fascinated with the problemsolving aspects of computer science and the development of artificial intelligence. Thus, she was thrilled to participate in a six-week internship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center last summer.
“It was terrific. I worked on computer science programs to develop a collaborative engineering tool for the Centers of Mission Design Laboratory. The tool enables engineers from different disciplines, like thermal and mechanical, to work together on the program,” Allison said. “I loved being able to participate in the first steps of planning a mission to see if it’s feasible or not.”
Allison is currently developing practical programming skills while involved in another noteworthy internship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory where she’s helping create a computer program for satellites.
Allison applied early to top colleges like Caltech and MIT as a computer science major with a possible double major or minor in business. Her ideal career path would take her in a direction where she could combine her leadership skills with technology.
Like many of her classmates, she finds waiting to hear back from the colleges stressful.
Her parents are partial to elite schools like MIT but supportive no matter which university she chooses. As she’s a finalist for the Banneker/Key scholarship for the University of Maryland at College Park, that weighs into her decision.
“I’m looking forward to moving ahead with my future,” she said.