Lilliana is a disciplined, dedicated, and well-rounded student who has been shaped by a desire for more opportunities and success for herself, her family and her peers. She balances many obligations and activities, with an unrelenting will to take something positive from every experience.

Lilliana is most proud of her commitment to managing her time between family, extracurriculars, and rigorous dual credit coursework. She lives in a first-generation Angolan-American, low-income, single parent household with her large family. Lilliana helps her disabled mother as a caretaker for her polyneurodivergent older brother and her autistic younger sister.

Lilliana is captain of the QuizBowl team where she assigns topics and helps improve team efficacy. She is a 9 year member of her community swim team where she also coaches younger swimmers. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Yearbook, which earned national recognition under her leadership.

Outside of school, Lilliana re-builds classic cars from scraps, a skill she learned from her grandfather. Lilliana is also a dedicated volunteer with 150+ volunteer hours primarily planning lessons, tutoring, grading, and working in small groups with special needs students.

Lilliana plans to pursue urban planning in order to help create parks, communities, and cities, to combat many of the struggles she, her family, and her peers face. She aims to create places where every resident can thrive and grow, prioritizing affordability, efficiency, and accessibility.