Many exceptional students have passed through the halls of Dimond High School.

After this year Dimond will say goodbye to one more extraordinary student, Vladislav V. Finko.

Finko moved to the United States in 2008 when he was in the 5th grade.

English was not his first language. His first years in an American school he struggled to overcome the language barrier that separated him from his classmates.

Finko said, “I had to overcome a lot of my insecurities and stop being so shy and introverted to get where I am now.”

By the time Finko was in high school he was a part of multiple clubs, extracurricular activities and sports.

Since sophomore year he has been a part of the Rare-T club educating middle school students about safe sex.

Freshman year Finko started football and basketball cheer team.

Counting this year Finko will have completed four years on each team.

Finko said, “I am also on a level 5 world’s cheer team called Black Ice. I’ve been on the team now for two years. Before that I was on another level 5 world’s team called Frostbite for one year.”

Finko has been a part of Student Government for all four years of his high school career now. He is currently the student body president.

He used to be the treasurer of the National Honor Society at Dimond High School.

He plans to go to Boston University and major in Business.

To help him make his dreams a reality he is currently the head of public relations of the Dimond Business and Entrepreneurship Club.

Even though Finko has all these clubs and extracurricular activities he still finds the time to work on the weekend and maintain a steady grade point average.

From freshman year to junior year of highschool Finko has earned 4.0 grade point averages each year.

“I set my standards high. It was difficult for me when I was younger. I wanted to prove that I could overcome the obstacles and become the person I wanted to be,” says Finko.

Due to Finko’s enormous achievements he found himself eligible for Homecoming court this year.

“I was super excited when I found out that I was nominated for Homecoming court. Sadly, I didn’t win Homecoming king but there is always Prom court. My goal before I graduate is to make it onto Prom court. I don’t even have to win, but that would be a plus,” Finko said optimistically.

Finko is making a big difference in Dimond by getting involved in as many clubs as he can.

“I am giving up my elective classes this semester to help tutor freshman kids with math,” says Finko.

“I want to make Dimond a better place. I want the future freshmen that come here to be happy here.I want them to be more comfortable than I know a lot of my fellow classmates were when we were freshmen. That is why I am a part of the freshman mentor program here at Dimond,” says Finko.

Finko has great advice to the future generations of Dimond High School:

“Join any club you are interested in. It’s fun and it also looks good on your college application. Also, just do whatever you want to do. If you want to play a certain sport, play that sport. If you want to do a certain activity, do it. Just do what makes you happy.”