Washoe Country School District
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Abby Miller's Profile
Reno Student Understands Leading Is Serving
Student: Abby Miller
School: Reno High School
Reno High School student body vice president Abby Miller doesn’t regret her decision to get involved with leadership, even as time-consuming as it’s been for her.
“I’ve just enjoyed being able to reach out to people and it’s also developed me to be an effective leader,” Abby said. “That’s definitely been extremely helpful, like knowing how to work with peers instead of just bossing them around. Sometimes that’s what people view as a leader but a lot of the time people need to know how to follow, too.”
Abby graduates from Reno in June with a future at the University of Texas, Austin.
“I hope to major in business,” she said. “I think leadership will definitely help me there.”
Abby played a part in Reno’s Soles4Souls shoe collection as a junior. In a friendly competition with another Washoe County high school, she and her peers helped bring in more than 18,000 pairs of shoes, which were sent to Haiti.
“It’s one of the best decisions I ever made,” she said as a student leader. “It’s great because you not only reach out to the student body, but you reach out to the community.”
Reno Principal Bob Sullivan said Abby’s proven herself to be an asset among her peers.
“She has taken our philosophy in student leadership that when you are in office or choose to be in leadership class, you are a servant to the rest of your class,” he said. “Everything you organize, everything you do is for the classmates. You stand back. You’re not in the video. You’re not in the games. It’s the rest of the school’s show.”
She said she’s been fortunate to have excellent teachers who have invested themselves into their students, especially for the four Advanced Placement classes she’s taking this year. “It’s good to have teachers who care about their students doing well,” she said.
Outside of school, Abby has invested herself in tennis lessons, performing in Reno High’s rendition of “Bye-Bye, Birdie” as a townswoman. She said it was this involvement that made high school even more memorable.
“Try to make the most of your senior year and try not to get caught up in wanting to get out,” Abby said. “That happened to me a little bit with all the college applications and having AP classes and leadership. I’m just now realizing that I’m graduating soon. I look forward to being able to have that independence.”
