Abington Heights Senior Does it All

Aidan Lam, 17, is the student who is involved in almost everything Abington Heights High School has to offer. 

From Student Council president to senior school board representative, the Clarks Summit senior does it all.

“Within our school, I try to be involved in every type of activity that our school has to offer,” Lam says.

Along with these positions, Lam also is co-president and concertmaster of the Honors Orchestra, a member of Honors Choir, will play the role of Lefou in the upcoming school play “Beauty and the Beast,” is  a member of the National Honor Society, as well as captain of the Mock Trial team. These are only a few of the many activities Lam  is involved in. He also plans to try out for the school’s tennis team this spring. 

Not only is Lam involved in these clubs, but he holds positions in each. One of his most esteemed positions is being president of Student Council, because of the many responsibilities the position demands.

“A lot of my job deals with delegating tasks and meeting with people. For every activity that StuCo puts on, we must first get approval from administration… Other than that, I also plan and execute all of the club meetings,” Lam said when speaking about his responsibilities. 

How does he balance it all? Lam knows he has to stay disciplined and focused. 

“Half of the battle is not giving into temptation. I have really bad tendencies to procrastinate, and choose a nap over my obligations, but a lot of it is discipline and getting it done in order to keep my mental health in check as well as my responsibilities,” Lam said.

Lam said his favorite three extracurricular activities are Student Council, Mock Trial and Orchestra because they give him a creative outlet, and he does well at each of them. Lam also is well respected and liked throughout each of these clubs and teams. 

Lam’s accomplishments are something that do not go unnoticed. One of his most passionate accomplishments has been his activism. He has taken on a nationally-recognized leadership role at one of the largest LGBTQ+ rights organizations where he utilizes his voice to advocate for conversations about intersectionality of  gender, sexuality and race in the queer community. 

Along with that, Lam has also started his own personal research project to continue his investigation on the interplay of race, gender and sexuality in contemporary western society with a research mentor at the University College Cork in Ireland. 

“I hope to complete this research and utilize it to contribute to the ‘It Gets Better Project’  used in six states,” he said when talking about his personal research.

Doing what you love is huge, according to Lam. According to this successful senior, if you aren’t doing what you love, your motivation won’t be there. 

“I participate in extracurriculars with passion and conviction, and I only took classes that I was interested in. Once you do that, it comes easily and it doesn’t feel like work.”