“I really like the connections you make with the members of your community,” Tosh said. “Of course, I mean, I love making connections with the people in Rock Bridge Reaches Out, like the students. But I also kind of like the adults and the community members you get to meet through the service opportunities that we do. It kind of sheds light on how great the Columbia community is.”

RBHS senior Mira Tosh leads a very full and busy life. Balancing high-level academics with time-consuming activities such as leading several service clubs, marching band, speech and debate and HOSA, she talks about how being involved within the community has had a meaningful impact on her life and inspired her to continue pursuing her passions in medicine and service following her high school graduation. 

1. Q. What activities are you involved in both here at RBHS and outside of school?

A: “So here at Rock Bridge, I think my main activities are Speech and Debate and Rock Bridge Reaches Out. At the Career Center, I’m involved with HOSA-Future Health Professionals. I also run a club here called Feeding CoMo, which is another food-related service club. I’m also involved with the band program. I was in the Emerald Regiment, which is the marching band. Outside of school, I am involved with the Youth Advisory Council with the City of Columbia, which is essentially a youth government in Columbia. We meet downtown at the courthouse. I do a lot of volunteering with the Food Bank and with the university’s hospital. Those are a couple of things I really enjoy doing as well.”

2. Q. What inspired you to be the leader for Rock Bridge Reaches Out? I know Kerra Lindbloom was the leader last year, but what inspired you to kind of take over?

A: “I definitely think just being able to kind of help all five cores [of the club]. Being able to help kind of guide all those cores to making an overall impact in Columbia is great. Before I was the president of Rock Bridge Reaches Out, I was the Hooves, Hands and Paws leader, which was the animal subsection. I really enjoyed that. I think the reason why I wanted to kind of step up is because I enjoyed all parts of the service. I was like, ‘I’d love to kind of have a part in leading all of this.’”

3. Q. What does being involved in a service organization mean to you?

A: “I really like the connections you make with the members of your community. Of course, I mean, I love making connections with the people in Rock Bridge Reaches Out, like the students. But I also like the adults and the community members you get to meet through the service opportunities that we do. It kind of sheds light on how great the Columbia community is.”

4. Q. You also said that you play in the Emerald Regiment Marching Band. Tell me more about that.

A: “So I’ve been involved with that since my freshman year. I’m on percussion, and I’m in the front ensemble, which is like all the xylophones and marimbas up there, and I’ve  really enjoyed it. […] It’s always the first semester. It’s a lot of hours, so it’s a big commitment. But I mean, the creativity you get to show is great. I think being able to kind of have a separation from a day of academics, and then being able to showcase your creative side is just really nice.”

5. Q. How do you manage your time between all the different activities?

A: “I’m really just making sure that I’m focusing on academics in class. When I get outside of class, I usually get a lot of time [for activities], like during club meetings, that’s time to focus on a club. I’ll work on extracurriculars maybe a little bit after those meetings. Then also allotting time for things like homework and academics and stuff. So just making sure I’m allotting time correctly.”

6. Q. How has being involved in extracurriculars kind of impacted your high school experience?

A: “I think it’s made my high school experience so much better because being able to get involved my freshman year has allowed me a lot of networking paths, both inside of Rock Bridge and then outside of Rock Bridge. That’s kind of helped me grow who I’m connected to. I’ve made so many friends through getting involved. I’ve also gotten a lot of great opportunities to serve and lead as well.”

7. Q. Which activity do you think has been the most meaningful to you and why?

A: “So I started a club my freshman year called Feeding CoMo, which is basically focused on raising awareness of food insecurity in our community. The reason why I’m so passionate about this is because I had a friend in middle school who was really impacted by food insecurity. So going into high school, I really wanted to raise awareness of it around youth and also getting youth service-based opportunities regarding food, because it’s sometimes hard to find youth-specific service opportunities in the community. So [I have] founded that, and then also [got] connections with the Food Bank for ways that we can better feed our community.”

8. Q. Besides your family, do you have any role models that kind of inspired you to get to where you are today with school and activities?

A: “Yeah, I actually think Mrs. Roberson, who’s a teacher at the Career Center, has really been an inspiration for me. I’ve known her since freshman year, and she is just really smart. She’s very wise, and she kind of pushed my passion for science as well, as well as getting involved within the community I’m in right now.”

9. Q. Can you tell me more about your passion for science?

A: “I think I mentioned I was in HOSA-Future Health Professionals. I’m really interested in becoming a physician in the future and also want to do research. So I take some of the biomedical classes at the career center. Those have been really interesting to me, and have kind of carried out to my interests that I have for the future as well.”

10. Q. So obviously, we’re kind of nearing the end of the year, and you’re a senior. As you kind of start the process of graduating high school, what has been the most meaningful high school experience you’ve had?

A: “I’d say actually Speech and Debate has been pretty meaningful to me. I know I haven’t talked about it much, but I think my leadership has really grown through Speech and Debate because of growing my voice. The people in Speech and Debate are very smart, and I think that’s kind of helped drive me to try my best. So that’s been pretty meaningful.”

11. Q. So, what are your plans for college and beyond?

A: “So I’m not quite too sure where I’m going to college yet, but I know I’m going to study biochemistry, possibly double majoring in public health. I’m also wanting to do research on things like ovarian health or neurological health as well.”

12. Q. What kind of sparked your interest in ovarian and neurological health?

A: “I actually shadowed at a research lab this past summer at Mizzou, and I was just really intrigued into the ovarian cellular mechanisms that they were studying. I realized if I go into college, that’s what I want to continue looking at. Same thing with neurological health, I kind of helped out with some research with some neurosurgery stuff, and I was also really intrigued with that.”

13. Q. How do you feel like the lessons you’ve learned throughout your years in school and many extracurriculars will kind of carry you throughout your life, both in college and beyond?

A: “I think that the characteristics I’ve built, such as empathy, organization, leadership, using my voice and not being afraid to just kind of be bubbly with other people and make connections […] will help me kind of make a community in the future and kind of help me to continue pursuing what I like to do.”