‘Girl power’ returns

Lincoln Parish Middle School Student of the Year Melissa Le is no stranger to the pages of the Ruston Daily Leader.

She was featured in 2019 after being named Elementary Student of the Year for the district and appeared again just a few weeks ago for being crowned Miss Louisiana Teen Volunteer.

In both the pageant and the Student of the Year competitions, Le’s platform involves encouraging and opening doors for more girls to enter STEM fields and, more broadly, furthering education opportunities for all children.

“I think it’s really important to give back to young people who don’t have as many opportunities as I do so that every child can have an opportunity to learn,” the eighth grader said.

She shares this passion with her principal, A. E. Phillips Laboratory School Director Jenny Blalock, who happens to be Elementary Principal of the Year for the parish.

Blalock was Le’s math teacher in first grade.

“One thing I really like about our school is watching them grow up,” Blalock said. “... Just that personal connection with students. Being with them year after year is really neat.

“With support from the College of Education at Louisiana Tech, support from the families and great students, I feel like it’s a family environment, and we’re all working toward the same goal.”

Housed on Tech campus, AEP’s connection to the university runs deeper than most for Le. Her father is an associate professor at Tech’s College of Business, while her mother is a coordinator in the international students’ office.

Son Le was one of four current and retired Tech professors who volunteered to coach Melissa Le and the other AEP participants in MATH-COUNTS, a nationwide middle school math competition that puts students through fast-paced math challenges above their grade level.

“It’s really cool to see people from Tech are willing to come help you,” Melissa Le said. “Knowing people take time to come help you with something you’re passionate about is humbling.”

A self-described feminist from a young age, Le embraces interests and activities that fall all along the spectrum of what were once seen as male or female dominated.

She competes in math, science and robotics contests. Her favorite color is pink. She wants to be a doctor. She picked up baking during the COVID-induced shutdown.

Le hopes her example can help others pursue what they love, regardless of what others may think.

That includes helping other children have access to a better education and life.

One way she does that is through her own business, Made by Melissa Macarons, in which she bakes and sells homemade macarons and donates a portion of the proceeds to the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home in town.

She learned about the LMCH’s work through exposure to her older sister Hana’s project with Ruston High School’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter, which raised money and supplies for students who aged out of the children’s home’s program.

Melissa said her penchant for giving back is largely driven by her school environment.

“Giving back to people younger than you will eventually lead to something greater than yourself,” she said. “That’s something I think I learned from A.E. Phillips. You can tell all the teachers invest in their children so much.”

That’s music to Blalock’s ears.

“Service is a big theme here,” Blalock said. “We as faculty and staff intentionally talk about service and how can we teach that to our students.

“I’ve had so many students walk up to me and on their own ask about my day and how I was doing. Those are things ew’re trying to teach our students, and I’m proud of the culture that’s forming.”

With two district-wide students of the year and a principal winner in one swoop, Le believes AEP provides students with much more than an academic foundation.

“I think a takeaway of A. E. Phillips is, it’s not really how smart you can get from your nine years here,” she said. “It’s how social and how well you can work in the world after you’re done with your time here. They motivate you to be better not only as a student but as a human. That’s something both the school and my parents have taught me.”