Page 89 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2023

Hunter Allen Pember Smith
story by Lynn Lofton
photo courtesy of Sam Allen
Gulfport High School Senior Hunter Allen is busy with two
of his passions,
golf and robotics. The 17-year-old son of Sam Sun and Kurt Allen
has been involved with Gulfport High School Robotics Team Fusion 364 since moving to Gulfport four years ago.
“Our team has been instrumental with various community outreach volunteer programs such as charity
golf tournaments, especially during covid,” he says, “and
I have mentored different robotics teams since I was in eighth grade in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.”
He also has assisted with junior golf programs since seventh grade.
Allen’s future plans are to attend LSU majoring in engineering and mentoring a robotics team in Mandeville, Louisiana. “And I will continue to play golf,” he says enthusiastically.
He started Montessori School when he was 18 months old and continued through second grade. “At Montessori I learned to bake, use a sewing machine, garden and how to do three-digit multiplication when I was five years old, and I wanted to be a herpetologist.”
As a senior editor of the Ocean Springs High
School yearbook staff, Pember Ivelyn Smith accepts the daunting tasks and tedious aspects of
the job with flawless completion. She encourages others daily with her bubbly personality and day- brightening spirit.
On top of her
duties as the
yearbook editor,
she also tackles
three jobs with ease
and is dedicated to
rigorous coursework
that prepares her
for college including
Accelerated
Placement classes
and Dual Enrollment classes through Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
She actively participates in giving back to the community as a member of the National Honor Society and Youth Activation Committee. She plans to attend Mississippi College in Clinton to pursue a career as a pediatric occupational therapist. She chose this career path because as a child she was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition that thrusted her into a world of occupational, physical, and speech therapy. These obstacles and the work involved to overcome them created an incredible sense of character that her family and friends see in her today.
story by Cherie Ward photo courtesy of Jennifer Cashin
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SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net April 2023 | 89