STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Hines Middle School 8th grader Martha-Ann Wells
Avid reader who leads by example
Posted: March 15, 2024
Martha-Ann Wells' love of reading started as a very young child with older siblings reading books to her.
She has gone on to become an avid reader, frequent school library patron and committed student. Wells stays involved with her Hines Middle School community through interactions large and small.
Her love of learning comes from her family, which asks that she always do her best.
"What I'm doing now in middle school will help me in high school, and what I do in high school will put me into college, and what I do in college will put me into careers," Wells said. "Obviously the whole point of learning is not necessarily to always get a career. It's to learn how to engage with others and how to impact other people."
An example is her recent Girl Scout project in which she created a patch program about menstrual poverty to earn her Silver Award. Its impact resulted in her being invited to the General Assembly's Advocacy Day to talk to legislators about laws they can pass to promote young people.
"If you try your best and put your effort in, you'll get so many opportunities," Wells said.
She assists students in need of help with schoolwork not by supplying answers or doing their work for them, but making suggestions so they learn better ways to help themselves with projects and material. Wells successfully advocated for re-establishment of National Junior Honor Society at Hines this year, volunteers her time in the community at the Virginia Living Museum and plays the piano as a hobby.
Her biggest love is reading and she progressed from Dr. Seuss to the Harry Potter series and beyond. Wells is always looking for new books that come in to the Hines library.
"I always went to the library at my elementary school," Wells said. "I loved the librarian there; she was so nice to me. The librarians here are really nice. And reading has always been relaxing. When you finish your work in class, you can read a book."
Making a sincere, consistent effort with classwork and maintaining relationships with teachers are a big help in navigating through middle school, she said. Do everything teachers ask and because half of students' grade is classwork, that is just as important as tests and essays.
"Part of it's just trying," Wells said. "You need to put in the effort."
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