Lisa Francomacaro has spent the entirety of her time at Liberty High School preparing n for one moment: graduation.
Francomacaro has been a member of the National Honor Society since she was a sophomore and served as president of the organization for her senior year. Whether she's organizing meetings with kindergarten classes or sending cards to veterans and wounded service men and women, her goal as president has been to help students reach their community service hours requirement while making a positive change in the community.
"We focus on service, so we organize service events that the whole student body can be a part of," Francomacaro said.
She is also one of two seniors who were voted by the teachers to be a part of Raising Student Voice & Participation, a program designed to promote and direct school and community reform through student participation, and she is a national merit scholarship finalist, one of roughly 15,000 out of an initial 1.5 million entrants, according to the scholarship's website. To top it off, she is the Spanish Club treasurer and has a cumulative 4.5 GPA, which could be higher once her senior AP courses are taken into account.
But according to her AP calculus teacher, Kevin Giffhorn, her heart, as well as her head, makes her truly worthy of recognition.
"Lisa is in the top 5 percent of all students I've ever taught, but she's not arrogant about it though," Giffhorn said. "She's selfless when it comes to helping other students."
Francomacaro has been accepted to Bucknell University, a private liberal arts university located in Pennsylvania. She described herself as a science-oriented person, and so has chosen to double major in cell biology and microchemistry.
However, one of her other passions is linguistics. She has taken Spanish courses all through high school, and took AP Spanish during her senior year. She decided that, in addition to her double major, she will also minor in the language.
"Fluency is definitely a goal of mine," she said.
Despite the workload confronting her in college, Francomacaro said that she has always wanted to become actively involved in advocating for patients suffering from mental health illnesses. Her tenure as president of the National Honor Society and position in the Raising Student Voice & Participation program has honed her leadership and oratory skills, which Francomacaro said will help her realize this goal.
"I'm hoping to get involved in mental health activism in my junior years, particularly changing the way people think about and treat those with these illnesses," she said.
Francomacaro said her kindness, generosity and empathy comes from her older sister, Sara.
"She's is my best friend and role model without a doubt," she said.
Giffhorn is neither surprised by Francomacaro's choice to double major at Bucknell nor her ability to handle such a demanding schedule.
"I think Lisa is going to do amazingly well in college," he said. "She's mature beyond her years and her work ethic is unparalleled."
As for Francomacaro's potential, Giffhorn added that nothing is beyond her reach.
"She's very driven. Whether it's long term or short term, she has a goal in mind, and she'll get there," Giffhorn said.
