North Vermilion’s Graham named Kiwanis Club ‘Student of the Month’

Success for most student athletes comes when the right balance is found between academics and sports.
That is true for Lunden Graham, a senior at North Vermilion High School. She holds a 4.0 GPA throughout her four years of high school and has earned all-district honors in multiple sports.
There is more to Graham’s success than simply equal focus to each part of her life, though.
“A lot of people think it must be difficult to do what I do,” Graham said. “To me, it is not all about talent or how hard you work. It is a mindset. I tell myself, I will be among the best athletes I compete against. I will be one of the top students in my school.
“Once you get that in your head, and you don’t think about how difficult it is, it just becomes what you do.”
For all that she does, the Abbeville Kiwanis Club honored Graham Tuesday afternoon as its Student of the Month. Along with a certificate and a gift card to Sonic in Abbeville, Graham will receive a sign to place in her yard.
North Vermilion High Principal Tommy Byler introduced Graham to the Kiwanians.
“She is the epitome of a true student-athlete,” Byler said. “She participates on four or five different sports and she has never made a B in her life.”
Mindset and balance play pivotal roles in that success, but don’t be fooled, Graham puts in plenty of hard work.
“I wake up and make a list of what I have to do that day,” Graham said. “What can I do to be better?
“I try to do all of those things.”
She has strong support along the way. Her mother, Rachel Graham, and grandfather, Billy Myers, are part of that group.
“My mom and my grandfather are everything to me,” Graham said. “They have helped me so much. At age seven, they put me in sports. They are at every game. They are so proud.
“I am so thankful for them, because without them, I would not be doing what I am doing.”
Graham is trying to be the same kind of role model for her younger sisters, Zoe Graham, 15, and Willow Cook, 12.
“I am definitely trying to set a good example for them,” Graham said.
It was when Graham was around her youngest sisters age that she moved from Lafayette Parish to Vermilion. She credits that move as important in building her future.
“I love North Vermilion,” Graham said. “It has such a personal relationship between teachers and students. It gives you so much opportunities to succeed. I don’t think I would be the same student-athlete if I went to Lafayette High. You can excel there, but you can’t focus on as many things as I like to.
“North Vermilion has given me all the opportunities to do everything I have wanted.”
The possibilities may be even better when Graham makes the next big move of her life. After graduating in May, Graham will enroll at Tulane University in New Orleans.
“I am undecided on a major right now,” she said. “I am thinking of going into physical therapy, so I may major in kinesiology.
“I am not 100 percent sure at this moment.”
When her college path does become set, Graham will hang up her basketball, track and volleyball uniforms. Lunden Graham, student-athlete, will be then known as Lunden Graham, student.
“I don’t think I want to try to continue sports at a collegiate level,” Graham said. “I have done this my whole life and I think now, I really just want to focus on academics.”
Graham said she is looking forward to creating her own schedule upon which to direct her focus.
“That is definitely going to be weird for me,” Graham said with a laugh. “I am going to miss sports so much. I have never had more than a week off from it. It’s going to be different.
“I am going to be able to make my own schedule and be self disciplined, without a coach being right there.”
She has not put away the uniforms just yet. Before her time at North Vermilion is up, Graham will try to help the Lady Patriots basketball team make the playoffs, as well as try to reach the state track and field meet in the 800-meter run.
“Just like I want to get an A,” Graham said, “I want to win that next game and win my next race. I am going to work as hard as I can to try to make that happen.”