Anya Boga is officially a Top Ten student as of late January and is going to The University of Florida to major in neuroscience on the pre-med track. However, this wasn’t always a sure thing. Boga began with the mindset that being a Top Ten student was unattainable, but as she progressed throughout high school, it became a reachable goal due to all of the rigorous courses she elected to take.
“I was pretty thrilled and I was excited. It felt like all the work that I had put into my high school academics was finally being seen and recognized,” Boga said.
Boga is an extremely efficient and determined worker, which allowed her to be very successful throughout her difficult classes.
“This is why she is in the Top Ten. Boga wouldn’t wait for the due date, she would get all assignments in the day it was assigned so nothing piled up and she had time to navigate the unexpected issues that always come up,” AP English Language and Composition teacher, Kathryn Kammeraad, said. “This gave her time to do her best versus rushing at the last minute. She doesn’t accept sloppy second best for herself.”
Being this determined is not always sunshine and rainbows. As a high school student, it is near impossible to not get lost in the sauce of comparing yourself and your accomplishments to your peers.
“[In the] Class of 2026, there’s a lot of really hard working students that are driven. Academic pressure was definitely like a hardship that I faced,” Boga said. “I had to cope with that feeling that I’m constantly in a rat race and fighting to prove myself.”
Regardless, she has friends, teachers and loved ones in her corner to support her. Her friends and peers have an abundance of great things to say about her. Her best friend Mannat Bakshi, who she met through mutual classes and friends in her freshman year, describes her as strong, resilient, patient, understanding and a good person overall.
“She’s the person that you can go to to talk and hangout with. I am the most proud of her and how she’s grown as a person,” Bakshi said.
Bakshi and Boga have pushed each other to be better and stuck with each other through all four years of high school, through the ups and downs, and the highs and lows. They each cite each other as the leading factor in one another’s successes.
“We balance each other out perfectly,” Bakshi said.
Her teachers feel Boga finds excitement in all her classes and assignments.
“Anya is extremely engaging in the classroom because she feels the thrill of learning,” Kammeraad said. “When you get a student like Anya, teaching becomes electric and intellectually exciting.”
To her friends and teachers, Boga is an optimistic, happy, curious, thoughtful, analytical and caring individual. Through her hard work and desire to learn, ask questions and explore she has been able to achieve her goal of being a Top Ten student.
“She deserves all these accolades because she put in the effort. It’s validating knowing that I had a small impact on her high school career. We never know the impact we have on students unless they tell us,” Kammeraad said.
Her friends and teachers expressed pride in her achievements thus far and hope for her to continue along her path.
“I am the most proud of her, honestly, just growing as a person. I am so unbelievably grateful for her, and everything that she has to do, and I cannot wait to see everything that she does at UF.” Bakshi said.
