As eighth grader Ava Pankey walks through the halls at Meridian, she knows what people sometimes think when they first see her. She’s heard it before—more than once. “People say I look mean,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m not. I just always look tired. I’ve had these eye bags forever.”

She’s right, though—her face can look serious at first glance. But once she starts talking, the whole picture changes. Ava is friendly, bright, funny, and talkative. She’s the kind of person who notices if you have something in your teeth and tells you—nicely. She’s the kind of friend who will climb into a storage closet to help you find clothes for field day, even if it means nearly doing the splits in the process. “If someone’s doing something wrong, I’ll tell them,” she said, “but I’ll be nice about it.”

Ava lives in Cairo with her parents, Laurel and Lamar Pankey, and her four brothers—Aiden, Atticus, Archer, and Atlas. All the siblings’ names start with “A,” something she thinks is funny but also kind of sweet. Her oldest brother, Aiden, is a senior this year, and she says she looks up to him more than anyone. “I just want to be as successful as my brother,” she said. “He has good grades, and he’s going to SIU. I want to get scholarships and do the same.”

Ava and her family moved from South Carolina when she was little, before second grade. Her family came back to this area to help care for her grandfather, who was ill. After he passed, the family stayed because they owned property nearby—and because Meridian felt like the right place for the kids to go to school. Her mom now works as a dispatcher for the Cairo Police Department, and her dad works for the local utilities company.

She talks about her family often—especially her younger brothers, who keep her busy. “I help take care of them,” she said. “Sometimes I make dinner when my parents have meetings.” Between helping at home and keeping up with school, Ava’s schedule is full, but she’s always looking for new ways to get involved.

Last year, she joined the volleyball team and plans to play again this season. She’s not sure yet if there will be tryouts—“there are a lot of new people who want to play,” she said—but she’s hopeful. She remembers last year’s highlight clearly: a big win against Cairo.

Her favorite subjects are the ones that make her think, especially those related to people and problem-solving. She wants to attend SIU Carbondale one day to study criminal justice and eventually become a criminologist. “I want to work on criminal cases,” she said. “Like questioning people and figuring out what really happened.”

That interest might come from watching her parents at work—her dad’s practical, problem-solving mindset and her mom’s calm under pressure as a dispatcher. But Ava says it also comes from her natural curiosity and her sense of fairness. “I’m good at getting people to tell the truth,” she said with a grin. “Like when my dad says something I know isn’t right, I can get him to admit it.”

Outside of school, she likes organizing and deep cleaning—something she says she’s “weirdly in love with”—as well as baking and spending time outdoors. She also likes watching true crime videos and police body cam footage, partly because they remind her of the kind of work she wants to do someday.

When asked how her best friends would describe her, Ava doesn’t hesitate. “Leah says I’m nice, caring, funny, and helpful,” she said. “But I think that’s true for most people who get to know me. I’m loyal and easy to get along with. Just don’t start off rude.”

For someone so young, Ava already has a mature sense of who she is. She’s self-aware and grounded, with goals that extend beyond herself. She’s quick to laugh, honest about her challenges (math isn’t her favorite), and open about what she’s still learning.

“Meridian is a good school,” she said. “It’s where I’ve made my friends, and I’m comfortable here.”