A Wizard’s Path: Sara Elarfaoui

From balancing spreadsheets to building business clubs, Sara’s journey at Washingtonville High School has helped her discover a passion for finance while developing strong leadership skills and a deeper sense of self.

Sara currently holds several leadership positions in numerous clubs including president of the Business & Marketing Society, president of GEMS in STEM, treasurer of Wizards Against Cancer Club, secretary of Language Honor Society and treasurer of the Community Service Club.

These leadership positions have helped further Sara’s interest in all things economics while gaining real world experiences before she graduates. In many of these leadership roles, Sara is responsible for keeping track of finances through spreadsheets and filling out tax forms. 

“I like doing all the Google Sheets kind of stuff and doing things like tax forms,” she said. “It sounds weird, but I really enjoy it. It was just something that clicked for me, and when I looked more into it, I was like, ‘Wait, this could be something that I could do and be good at.’”

Her passion for business has only continued to grow. After assisting in the launch of the Business and Marketing Honor Society during her junior year, she went on to serve as its president in her senior year. Sara was driven to establish the club because she felt there were not many opportunities at the school for students interested in the field. 

“Currently, I'm the president of the Business & Marketing Honor Society, which is my favorite thing to be a part of because I'm really interested in going into business,” she said. “With the Business and Marketing Honor Society, I just felt like maybe there's other people that also really enjoy it and I would want other people to be able to get involved.”

Sara’s curiosity with finance began her sophomore year when she started taking high school level business classes. Since then, she has taken several college business courses during her time at Washingtonville High School, including college macroeconomics, college algebra and trigonometry, college statistics, college financial accounting and college introduction to business. 

Her deep love for money management expands far outside of the classroom. Sara is currently in the process of trying to spearhead financial literacy workshops for her peers and members of the community, teaching them the importance of financial competence and understanding the value of a dollar.

Aside from her leadership roles, Sara is also a part of the National English Honor society, National Science Honor Society and National Honor Society. Additionally, she partakes in Safe School Ambassadors and iDecide, speaking to her peers and elementary students about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and bullying. 

She also participates in Special Olympics and Best Buddies. 

For Sara, these opportunities allow her to help her peers and spend quality time with those she might not often interact with throughout the school day. 

“I really enjoy being a part of those programs,” Sara said. “Going to the practices for the Special Olympics is always fun and it's great to help teach them. It's very rewarding after knowing how you helped them and kept them motivated. As for best buddies, it's amazing to spend time with them and do fun things with them.”

When it comes to athletics, Sara plays as an outsider on the varsity soccer team. The team had an exceptionally strong season this year, advancing all the way to the semifinals. 

One of Sara’s favorite memories during her time at Washingtonville was when the team beat Warwick Valley this season in overtime after losing to the Wildcats in the section finals last year. What made this victory extra special for Sara was when her friend, Nicola, scored the winning goal. “That was really exciting and I was really happy,” she said about the win.

After graduation, Sara plans to attend university next fall. Although she is still early in the college application process, her favorite university as of now is Binghamton University because of their impressive academic program. Sara hopes to continue studying finance and business throughout her college years. 

Sara has expressed gratitude for her teachers, especially Ms. Moore and Ms.Giordani who have instilled her passion for finance and encouraged her to explore her interests.

“They helped my love for business; without Ms.Giordani, I wouldn’t have loved accounting as much as I do," said Sara. “Without Ms. Moore, I wouldn’t be able to have this leadership position in the honor society and really be able to do what I want with business in high school right now.