NEOSHO, Mo. — There’s a new winner for the Golden Lion Award – This time a Neosho Wildcat. We meet the teenager with a giving heart.
“I’m Aryan Arora and I go to Neosho High School and I’m 17 years old and a senior.”
And it’s a very busy 12th grade year.
“I’m in speech and debate. I’m in Future Business Leaders of America. I also help with student council.”
And National Honor Society. That adds up to a long list of activities and competitions.
“I’m the district champion for international extemporaneous speaking for both MSHSAA and MSDA. So Speech and Debate wise, I love the competitiveness of it.”
But Aryan also spends dozens of hours helping others. That includes blood drives and food drives. But it’s also includes a unique project he created.
“For environmental club where you recycle. I want to do a week where all the classes competed to donate and recycle paper. And the school as a whole got 600 pounds of paper,” said Arora.
Aryan helps to mentor incoming freshmen. And he also helps other students tackle tough homework.
“So once a week I tutor about three hours a week.”
Aryan helps with a project to buy Christmas presents for students in need… along with special projects for other holidays.
“We teach them Halloween safety. So we’ll go to those schools all dressed up in a costume this year as a hot dog. And so we’ll teach them you know, make sure you with your parents don’t eat anything going on in people’s houses.”
Neosho High School teacher Meg Saffer said Aryan is a great fit for the Golden Lion Award.
“He’s really good at kind of taking in what’s happening in a room. And identifying who needs a little bit of guidance or a little push here and there,” said Staffer.
Arora is already looking ahead to a career as a public defender, a path that starts out at Missouri Southern State University.
“I’m planning on getting my associates and my bachelor’s in political science from MSSU,” he said.
