Brennah Llanos
Grade 8
Ballou Junior High
Brennah Llanos is described as a leader among her peers.
“She
goes out of her way to make sure others feel included,” said Ballou
Junior High English teacher Tamara Chipps and social studies teacher
Troy Halfaday. “Everyone considers Brennah their friend. In her eyes,
there is no excuse for not helping others.”
At
lunch, it’s common to see Brennah, who starts eighth grade this year at
Ballou Junior High, sitting and chatting with students who have special
needs. She also seeks out and eats lunch with classmates who are
sitting by themselves.
“I
don’t want anyone to be left out,” she said. “You can’t judge people by
what you think you know about them. You have to get to know their heart
first.”
The
teen also goes above and beyond in all of her classes, her teachers
say, despite medical issues that she has to overcome on a daily basis.
Brennah
was born with McCune-Albright Syndrome, a rare genetic disease that
affects the bones and skin. She has six tumors on the left side of her
skull surrounding the optic nerve in her brain.
The
disease causes her to mix up her words sometimes, she said, adding she
had extensive speech therapy throughout her preschool and elementary
school years. She also suffers from scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of
the spine, and stopped growing earlier than most of her peers.
The
13-year-old refuses to let her medical issues interfere with her drive
to excel in her classes, athletics, and other extracurricular
activities.
Brennah
sings in the school choir and competed last year in multiple junior
high sports including basketball, track and field, and flag football.
She also played soccer after school with the Franklin Pierce Soccer Club
Fury, Black.
“I’m not letting my disease get in the way of what I want to do,” she said. “I just fight for it, and I don’t give up.”
In
addition to helping her school classmates, Brennah is committed to
serving her community. In winter, she pulls a wagon through her
neighborhood to collect food for people in need.
Her
love for animals inspired her in recent summers to set up a lemonade
stand and donate the earnings to the local animal shelter. She also asks
family and friends to donate to the Humane Society instead of giving
her birthday gifts.
Brennah
enjoys playing with her dog, “Wags,” a Border Collie-Labrador Retriever
mix she adopted at the animal shelter, and her Siamese cat,
“Angel-Bell.” A neighbor cat also regularly follows her to the school
bus stop, she said, and waits for her to arrive back at home.
Her
career interests include being a professional athlete in basketball or
soccer, working as a veterinarian, or becoming an FBI investigator.
“Integrity
and determination are the two words that I would use to describe
Brennah,” said Ballou Junior High Principal Krista Bates.
Chipps
and Halfaday added, “Regardless of the distractions life brings, it is
Brennah’s humility and courage that we most admire.”
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