Reading good books, observing nature, and spending quality time with family are on the top of junior Annie Sharyan’s priority list in her free time, serving her life goal to “be happy and for my family to be proud [of me].”

Not many people know about Sharyan’s Armenian heritage, or that she reads, writes, and speaks Armenian. She has visited Armenia twice, and her favorite part of being there is the culture.

That is part of why this school year, Sharyan is looking forward to participating in the Middle Eastern Student Union. Her favorite thing about La Salle is “the feel of community,” and participating in these clubs is a part of that.

Outside of her after-school activities, Sharyan especially enjoys spending time with her baby sister Melanie, who is two years old. “I love to teach her new things and we love to go to the park together,” Sharyan said. Recently, Sharyan has been teaching Melanie her letters and numbers.

Sharyan’s family bond is so strong that she said they would win Family Feud, a show they watch often. Another show that she watches is “The Crown,” which she enjoys because of the historical details.

However, with four AP courses and one honors course, a challenge of being at La Salle for Sharyan is balancing the rigorous workload with the activities she enjoys. She also finds “willingly publicly speaking” to be a challenge both inside and outside of her classes.

Sharyan doesn’t consider herself to be a very courageous person. “I’m not really a risk-taker,” Sharyan said. “I don’t come out of my shell a lot.”

Nonetheless, if she did give a speech, she would say that “there needs to be less pollution and more peace in the world,” she said.

Another thing that Sharyan wishes she knew how to do is play an instrument, such as piano or violin.

Sharyan said that her life would be different if she knew how to play those instruments because “maybe I’d be more extroverted,” she said. “Maybe that’d make me more free to do those things.”

Another activity that Sharyan imagines herself participating in if she had the time would be swimming. “I feel like it’s really competitive,” she said. “And it makes you work harder towards the goal that you’re going to [achieve].”

In the future, Sharyan plans on becoming an optometrist. She especially enjoyed Honors Chemistry with Mr. Owen her sophomore year because the class gave her an opportunity to learn more about the field.