Sophia Sheyko-Frailey
Sophia Sheyko-Frailey is an 18-year-old senior who has been involved in yearbook since her sophomore year.
She enjoys crafting, and more recently has gotten into scrapbooking. She was inspired to start her scrapbook because she really liked “seeing people capture their memories in a non-digital way.” She kept receipts and other items or trinkets from different trips or memorable occasions in a box and decided that a scrapbook would be the best way to create a lasting memory.
An involved community member, Sheyko-Frailey serves as a student ambassador to the school district and is this year’s High School Confidential correspondent for The News-Gazette. She is also a member of Habitat for Humanity, National Honor Society, and uses what little free time she has to volunteer with the Urbana Park District.
Sheyko-Frailey has big aspirations, aiming to graduate with her PhD in Cognitive Science in Psychology or Neuroscience in Psychology. She believes this fits her as she describes herself as a people-oriented person who cares about others and wants to be able to “take something off their chest.”
Watch out for the creative, helpful Dr. Sheyko-Frailey!
Ananyah Tangmunarunkit
Ananyah Tangmunarunkit is a 17-year-old senior who, although still uncertain about where exactly her future may take her, is along for the ride.
In school, Tangmunarunkit is a high-achieving student, participating in Science Olympiad, PTSA, and the Habitat for Humanity Club, just a few of the experiences that shape who she is today. Some things that give her joy include doodling, making music, spending time with friends, tennis, and cute animals (including her dog Kiwi).
Currently looking to the future, Tangmunarunkit is interested in agricultural and biological engineering, with a goal of affecting the environment for the better.
Her second year as Echo and yearbook staff, Tangmunarunkit looks forward to putting her best into preserving great memories and spreading news for students!
Constantine Anderson
Constantine Anderson is a 17-year-old senior who transferred to UHS for his senior year and is ready to graduate!
He has various interests, such as listening to music, playing video games, and skateboarding. He lives in Urbana with his parents and pet cat, George. He has a lot of family in Champaign and even Tampa, Florida.
His plan for the future is going to trade school to become an electrician. “I want to help people who can’t do electrical work themselves,” he says. Additionally, he mentions, “college just isn’t for me, which is why I’m going to trade school.”
He recently joined Journalism because he thought it would be interesting. Even though he’s new to UHS, he thought taking it anyway would be fun. This year, you should be seeing a lot from Constantine in both the yearbook and the newspaper.
Christopher Antonio
Christopher Antonio is a junior who is ready to do hands-on work!
He is a 15 year old with interests in wrestling, MMA and photography. Musically talented, Antonio is also a member of the Tiger Marching Band and Wind Symphony. While he loves the competitions and showcases, he will admit he is not the biggest fan of the Monday night rehearsals!
Antonio wrestles during the winter season and is putting in the work to make his goals. He wants to make it to the big stage next to his family, friends and coaches and hopes to accomplish this by moving down a weight class, from 113 pounds to 106 pounds.
Always ready to step up when people need him, Antonio also managed the Urbana Soccer team this season and is looking further into playing next year. With his eyes always on the future, Antonio is eager to take on new challenges, build his skills and turn his interests into opportunities for hands-on experience.
CJ Farnum
CJ Farnum is a sophomore who is taking on their first year of journalism with creativity and artistry, talents they use outside of school as well.
‘’I like writing poetry. I use it to express myself and get my words and feelings out onto paper,” they said.
Farnum also helps to create props for Urbana’s theatre productions. You may have seen their work in the spring musical, where they experienced making a giant meteor out of styrofoam and metal!
“I like the community. Everyone’s really nice. I can talk to people, and they won’t judge me,’’ they said.
Their family’s long history of helping people and love for being in action helped Farnum decide to become a paramedic.
In the meantime, Farnum will be in action with the newspaper and yearbook, and has already made their mark. Farnum’s yearbook theme idea, 2Cool 2B 4Gotten, won the student vote for this year’s theme by a landslide!
August Gillette
Senior August Gillette, despite not being particularly detailed when describing himself, is quite the passionate journalist! In his third year as a member of the yearbook staff, Gillette prides himself on creating all parts of the book and has a simple goal: “to make it enjoyable.”
While he grew up fishing, recently Gillette has found an increased interest in it. You can often find Gillette near the water when he is not in school. Whether rivers, lakes, or oceans, he finds himself at home there. “Everything came from the water,” he says.
In the future, Gillette is interested in going into the field of education. As such, schools better be ready to have a calm headed and observant individual on their team. Until then, he’ll be using his talents here at UHS!
Naya Hasanadka
Senior Naya Hasanadka, who despite never taking journalism before, “super excited about it.
As someone who loves to learn, Hasanadka finds every opportunity to extend her knowledge. She especially loves art and considers it “a passion of sorts.”
“I do interest myself in learning most forms of the arts….it is creative, interpretive, and there’s a lot of fluidity with it. It keeps my hands busy!,” she added.
In the future, Hasanadka wants to go into the dual language education sector because “ many dual education teachers often get removed due to expired visas.” She wants to be a more constant presence for students and loves to work with kids.
In the meantime, she will be a constant presence with The Echo. ART we are excited to see what she will do this year!
Evelyn Hernandez
Evelyn Hernandez is a 16 year old junior who was born and raised in Champaign.
As a three-time yearbook staff member, Hernandez has distinguished herself in the realm of interviews. She can get anybody talking!
Part of what makes her a strong staff member are her diverse interests, which include sports, music, and math. She has a special spot in her heart for her two favorite artists:
Bryson Tiller and Brent Faiyaz. She stays busy and always is trying to do something, whether that be sports, creative pursuits, or social activities with friends.
In the future, Hernandez hopes to become a lawyer because she enjoys talking and arguing, or a surgeon because she wants to “help people put their lives back together.” She sees both career paths as ones that can help other people, which is important to her.
In the meantime, she will be helping out UHS Journalism by putting her skills to use!
Melanie Mejia
Melanie Mejia is a creative senior who is making the most of her last year of high school.
Two of Mejia’s biggest passions are drawing and photography.
“I basically got into drawing when I was a kid, and the only reason I really got into it was because we used to have to write comics of stories that happened to us and I thought it was really fun. I basically taught myself how to draw because of how much I liked it. I would watch youtube videos and try to learn more,” she said.
Her love of photography also started in school.
“I started taking a class my sophomore year, and I didn’t realize how interesting it was. I’ve always admired nature and so being able to capture the things that I see is really nice and it makes me happy,” she added.
Part of what Mejia appreciates about the arts is the independence of it all. She credits these opportunities for solitude with making her more independent, self-reliant, and who she is today.
In the future, Mejia plans to become a mortician! Until then, she will continue bringing stories to life in the land of the living, publishing stories for The Echo.
Cecilia Nyembwe
Cecilia Nyembwe is a sophomore who finds herself looking for challenges and trying new things.
If you attend football or basketball games, you may have noticed her cheering as a member of the cheer team. For Nyembwe, cheerleading is all about supporting the team and expressing yourself, something she also does through yearbook photography. She is also a member of the soccer team.
In academics, Nyembwe is especially drawn to psychology. She likes to study the human mind and wants to understand why people do some of the things they do. She says she’s a big “why?” person, which has pushed her to want to study psychology even more.
Community and girlhood are important to Nyembwe. A future goal of hers is to attend an HBCU and join a sorority as well. While at UHS, she will continue to be part of the community through sports, her studies, and yearbook!
Maria Poblano
Maria Poblano is a junior who is outgoing, kind and always ready to make people around her feel cared for.
She is creative and thoughtful and is someone her friends and classmates can always count on. Whether she’s on the soccer field, working with kids or talking with people in the hallways, she is sure to bring her light everywhere she goes.
During the summer, Poblano works at the pool as a lifeguard and a swim instructor, giving her great real world experience in emergency services and teaching skills. She is also bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish, allowing her to connect with people from all different backgrounds, as well as helping her as she writes for the yearbook and The Echo.
Between her academics, athletics, and extracurriculars, Poblano is always looking for a new way to challenge herself to grow. This is something she looks forward to continuing in the future, as she uses her skills, leadership, and passion to help others.
Chloe Rogers
Chloe Rogers is a 17-year-old senior who is involved in color guard and enjoys hanging out with her friends, reading, and writing!
Rogers is a passionate member of the color guard team. She describes the environment as “a space where we all can be involved in something, and it gives us something to focus on that isn’t school or our home lives.”
Her plans after high school are to become a vision itinerant, an educator who travels to different school buildings to support students with vision impairments. As a student with vision impairments herself, Rogers was inspired to pursue this career path by her own vision teacher, whom she has known since first grade and refers to as her “school mom.”
This is not the only career path she has considered, saying that if she enjoyed math, she would become an astrophysicist! Her fascination with space grew with attending SCIVIS (Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students) for four years in Florida.
“It’s unique to be able to be in a place where everybody is like you and has similar issues, and you can kinda relate,” she said.
Make sure to keep an eye out for the great work Rogers publishes this year!
Aya Staske
Aniyah Staske, known to those who know her as Aya, is a senior and first-year journalist for The Echo.
Staske is obsessed with mortuary sciences and most things dark and gloomy. She can’t wait to get out of high school and go into a career of being a tattoo artist, where she can use her creativity. She’s also looking forward to some added benefits: “I want to make a lot of money, which is why I chose being a tattoo artist because they make lots of moolah, ” she said in her signature deadpan.
It isn’t all dark and gloomy for Staske, though. She has 2 cats named Nigel and Max, who are both named after characters from childhood movie favorites. “As soon as I saw Nigel I knew I wanted him,” she said..
In class, she begs August to help her, but he usually doesn’t know how to help. Good thing Staske knows how to find her own answers. Whether she’s chasing down a quote or tracking down a story, she brings her own curiosity and dark sense of humor to The Echo!
Khiyrie Williams
Khiyrie Williams is a sophomore who moved to Urbana from Tennessee in elementary school. Though she has found a home in this new location, she still considers her years in Tennessee as important to making her who she is.
Williams describes herself as more of the shy and introverted type, but she loves her journalism class and does yearbook because she loves to interview people and “get to know them on a deeper level.” While she can still find the experience of talking to strangers challenging, she continues to grow and sometimes even looks forward to it!
After high school she hopes to accomplish her goal of going to a good university, just as her older sister did. Once there, she plans on using her interviewing skills as a therapist or psychologist to help people with their problems.
