CFNN Reporters Sanaa House and Darius Walker 

As the new week starts, we come together, brainstorm, and come up with our hypothesis, to highlight Rama Elhatto, through the week of the 27th through the 31st. 

Rama was born and raised in Jordan with her family. Having a fairly good childhood, she moved from Fayetteville to Charlotte in the summer of 2024. Although she attended another school for two weeks, she did not think it was for her, so she moved back to Fayetteville with her dad. 

On the weekends, Rama and her dad usually drive 6 hours in total, just to go to Charlotte, and spend time with the rest of her family. Rama and her family spend their time together by eating good food, cleaning up, watching movies, and getting crumbl cookies occasionally. 

Though her weekends are spent with family, Rama keeps her brain going by working on her school work down the road. Other than working hard in school, Rama has found friendships in the best of people, which has brought her friends to speak highly of her. 

“Rama is so kind, she is the sweetest soul, I love her so much, she’s so encouraging, she’s so positive and she won’t let you doubt yourself and she’ll push you to your fullest potential,” said classmate Tiana Diaz. 

For most high school students, supposedly the year that they feel the most pressure and trials in high school, is their junior year. With tons of work, getting ready for college applications, and possibly balancing work outside of school or extracurricular activities, many students crack under that pressure, but Rama focuses solely on her academics. 

“My beliefs for life are just: I just gotta make it through stuff, like I set a deadline for myself, even if I don’t feel like it, because a lot of times, I’m just burnt out or discouraged, cause I do have a lot of work, but for me, just get through it. My main objective is to get through my goal, and it makes me feel very accomplished and this is what allows me to move to my next objective,” said Rama. 

As a very intelligent student, Elhatto has taken many Advanced Placement classes and has taken Fayetteville Technical Community College classes in the 11th grade. These have been helping her take her education to the next level and prepare for her college studies.

As far as high school goes, Rama has all her ducks in a row, by working each and every day to provide for her future in college and for the last year as a senior in high school. 

Though Rama doesn’t have her head completely wrapped around which college she would like to attend, she is at least fully passionate about what she would like to study, which will possibly be data science, and has one college in mind that she believes has a good math program: the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill. 

Elhatto explains how she holds herself accountable by saying, “Most of my expectations are set for myself. It’s not the people around me that set them, it’s not pressure from family or friends.”

She also says, “I’ll be the first one disappointed in myself. I don’t fear disappointing the people around me; being disappointed in me, I fear disappointing myself.” If she doesn’t reach her goal, Rama still pushes herself to be the best she can be and holds herself to that standard. 

This junior mathematician has taken AP Calculus in both her first and second semesters. Some junior students wouldn’t even be able to handle the intense work ethic you’d have to put in for Calculus, yet Rama perseveres.

“I would say that Rama is a self motivated individual. She leads with her work ethic and her manners are outstanding. Not only does she soar in the classroom, her personality is one that is enjoyable and I look forward to seeing her every day,” said Elhattoa’s AP Calculus teacher, Mrs. Kristen Johnson. 

Her passion for math and comments from her math teacher highlight what type of student Rama Elhatto is. “Teaching AP Calculus, I have several students that work hard. Rama is a year behind most of them so that speaks for her level of self dedication and commitment in the classroom. To be in AP Calculus as a junior speaks for itself,” said Mrs. Johnson. 

Both teachers and students speak highly of Rama’s intelligence. Though math is her passion, she is currently taking other courses that are just as important, such as AP Literature and AP Research. Just like her AP Calculus class, she puts forth all her effort, regardless what type of studies she engages in.

“Rama is really intuitive, and she is quick to express her opinion, which is usually very well thought out. I think she’s a brilliant student who brings a lot to every class,” said AP Literature and Journalism teacher, Mr. Joe Grates. 

A student who works hard and looks forward to her future, a student who gets spoken highly of in her academics from teachers and students alike, a student who pushes herself to fill her brain with knowledge: that is the kind of student Rama Elhatto is.