Super Students
Saturday, March 28, 1998
Name: Jocelyn Chong
Age: 17
School: University Laboratory School
Favorite subject: History
Pastimes: Running, piano
Future: Journalist
No one knows better than Jocelyn Chong the hard work and dedication it takes to achieve results. Good work, good results
Six years ago, Chong joined the speech and cross-country teams as a seventh-grader at University Laboratory School. Feeling timid and unsure of herself back then, she struggled with impromptu speaking and nearly quit the track team.
But her friends, including speech coach Bill Teter, told her not to give up.
"She was just a real precocious little girl when I first met her," Teter said. "She's just grown in every way."
Now a 17-year-old senior, Chong has been the state speech champion in dramatic interpretation for the past two years. She's also passionate about running, especially since completing the Honolulu Marathon for the first time in 1996.
Last month, Chong won the 1998 Hawaii's Junior Miss Scholarship program, which includes a $3,500 scholarship award. She will compete in America's Junior Miss program in Mobile, Ala., this summer.
"To me, it's important to know that whenever you do well in anything, it's because you worked hard for it," she said. Chong, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, said she hopes to attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire this fall and major in history. Her long-term career goal is to become a journalist. "If you love something and someone says, 'No, you can't do it,' do it anyway," she said. "Do what your heart tells you to do."
Shirley Iida, Star-Bulletin
