Coppell High School senior Emily Chang is the Senior Class president and is an active member in HOSA. CHS students voted on the 19 most influential seniors in the graduating class of 2023.
Emily Chang: Charismatic
Walking into the Dallas Market Center, Coppell High School senior Emily Chang felt a sense of pride and joy wash over her. From selecting the potential themes to coordinating details and decorations, Chang poured her heart and soul into planning the perfect prom for the class of 2023.
The result was a testament to her and the Senior Class officers’ hard work and dedication for tireless months on end.
Besides serving as senior class president, Chang was HOSA president in her junior year and has been vice president of the Future Medical Students organization for the past three years. But it is not competition results or awards that gives Chang the sense of pride when looking back on her time serving; it is the welcoming environment she has helped nurture.
“I think I brought HOSA together – I made it a really fun environment, not just a competition, but a safe space where you can make friends and get to know a lot of other people,” Chang said. “That’s something that’s really important, having good relationships with other people and making sure other people feel valued, that is really what makes people influential and valuable to people. It’s not really what you do. Anyone can go and win a competition and perform really well academically, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with their character, which I think is the most important.”
Despite an impressive resume carrying her to major in health and human sciences at the University of Southern California, Chang’s motivations for putting herself out there when running for Senior Class president were not just to gain a new skill set or play a key role in the creation of memories for the seniors. Her motivations date back to her childhood.
“When I was growing up, I felt like I didn’t see a lot of representation and I didn’t feel like I could be multiple things at once,” Chang said. “‘Duality’ really represents what I stand for. You can go out and have fun all the time, but you can also do really well academically. You can be really successful and do so many things, but at the same time you can be a very genuine person and not lose your sense of character. I hope that people see me not just as successful or someone who is going to a good college and did all these things, but I hope people remember me for what my character is.”
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