The first time I met Valencia Vara, she wouldn’t stop burping. While words were spilling out of her mouth, a burp would randomly interject here and there.

She was also quite hungry. She wasn’t adverse to grabbing a slice of bread from her friend’s fridge. And she wasn’t shy to belch after finishing the slice.

But more time spent with Vara, makes a person she is much more than a hungry, burping girl. She is a happy, open, confident girl who is involved in the Global Studies Academy, is a non-native Chinese speaker and student, and a member of NHS, Unicef, student council, the Fort Bend Teen Service League, and just happens to be an amazing cross country runner, too.

Vara happened upon the sport by chance. While involved in many other athletic activities, she took up cross country with the hopes of improving her skills in her other activities. Soon she fell in love. The feeling of her feet thumping against the earth as the wind blew past her hair gave her freedom no other sport could offer.

While participating in cross country, Vara has made forever friends that she bonded with often.

“My best memory would have to be the pasta dinners with the team before a race,” said Vara.

Apart from just these dinners, Vara enjoys many other aspects of her team in cross country. She fondly thinks of “how indecisive the team is about where to eat and the interesting nicknames Coach Krall gives out teammates and they give him.”

Her team is very important to her, and her experience of running would be incomplete without her teammates. She describes her favorite feeling of cross country as her realization that she isn’t suffering grueling runs alone, her teammates are suffering with her.

 Vara hopes to continue cross country in college, and while doing so, she hopes to continue to help her team back at Clements.
Valencia Vara is clearly stepping towards success!