My name is Mikayla Mangin and today is September 18, 2025. I am currently a junior at Navarre High School and an athlete on the swim team. This is my third year on the team, and it has been a quite eventful and exciting past few years. I have a miniature dachshund named Holly. We are both two years apart, with her being born in 2007 and me being born in 2009. Holly will be turning 18 in two days! She has been part of my entire life. I still have old photos of me petting her when I was a baby and she was 2 years old. Growing up, my parents taught me to be caring, respectful, and compassionate, which is probably why I my friends say I act like a mom sometimes.

Around a year ago, there were hard things going in on my life which made me almost quit the swim team during my sophomore year. On the day me and my parents were leaving the Philippines; my aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. That really brought me down… I didn’t feel like myself the entire month of July 2024… I was waking up at noon every day and small tasks like cleaning and doing my skin care routine just felt difficult. I later then realized that I needed to turn to God for guidance and support. After reading the Bible, going to church, and talking about God, I finally felt better and finally felt like myself again. I also used to procrastinate a lot during my freshman and sophomore years of high school, but now, I study 2-4 days before tests and quizzes, and my grades look much better this first quarter. Since I am dual enrolled now, I actually do my assignments a few days or a week before they are due. I told myself that If I wanted to get the grades that I wished for, then I would have to work for it. Now I plan on working hard now and in the future so that way I can achieve my dream job, which is to become a doctor one day.