Meet Shamya Handegan, Class of 2021 senior from Pekin High School!  She is a little package full of energy, spontaneity, beauty, and sweetness who happens to be super fun to be around!

After high school, Shamya plans on attending Bradley University to major in Psychology. In school, she participates in track and keeps stats for wrestling. Her favorite teacher is Mrs. Hamilton because “I feel like she knows me the best and I talk to her about a lot of stuff and she’s an extremely dedicated teacher. My favorite class is her class and that’s Spanish because it’s easy and it’s fun.”  This year, she looks forward to Prom (crossing fingers) because “I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I was a little kid. I love getting dressed up and looking pretty and taking pictures and I loveeee dancing with my friends.”  She also loves participating in Powderpuff. “I do it every year and it’s fun to do something I don’t normally do and I get to help my class earn class points.”  Shamya’s advice to incoming freshman: “Keep up with your schoolwork, but don’t ONLY focus on school. School is extremely important but so are all of the memories you’ll make with your friends during these times of your life.”

Three things on my bucket list: 1) Go skydiving 2) Become famous  3) Go to Heaven

My “perfect day” would probably be spending the day on the beach with my two best friends and it’s super sunny out and for lunch and dinner we go to nice restaurants. During the day we take a bunch of beach pictures and make tik toks and have a fun time. Then at night we go crab hunting and when we go back into our condo we watch movies.

FOOD AND FAMILY:

1. If I could eat only one meal for the rest of my life it would definitely be a taco bell chicken quesadilla (with no spicy queso sauce). Withhh a red starburst slushee from there too. Plus a reese’s peanut butter egg. Those are all literally my addictions.
2. What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten? A locust shell
3. My hero is both my mom and my grandma in different ways. My mom because she has done so much for me without any help from my dad for most of my life. She was very resilient from bad situations she was in and she risked everything for me and my brother. She’s always there to listen to me and she doesn’t judge me no matter how bad the situation is. My grandma because she’s been like a second mother to me my entire life. I lived with her at some point. I know I can always count on her for literally anything. She would go to scary lengths just to make me happy. She is hardworking, dedicated and very classy.
4. My favorite family trip was last Spring break when we went to Venice Beach because it was sunny the whole time and super relaxing. We ate really good food and did a lot of different things. My boyfriend (at the time) went with us and I was just really happy the whole time.
5. I have a lot of good childhood memories but probably all of the times I went swimming in my grandmas pool with my family have been my favorite memories
6. My favorite family recipe is a dish we make every holiday. Cheesy Potatoes with cornflakes on top because it’s soooo good. And the weird thing is that I usually don’t like cheese, so it must be good for me to like it.
7. Favorite Holiday Traditions: Every Easter we go Easter egg hunting even though i’m 16 lol. The 4th of July we always set off our own fireworks before we go to the Pekin fireworks. Christmas we always come over to my grandmas in the morning when we’re done opening our presents at home and eat biscuits and gravy and open presents.
8. The best thing about my mom is that she’s been through so much in her short lifetime, and she’s still an amazing person. A lot of people would have given up in her situations that she was put in. She never stops pushing forward and going for her goals. She’s a genuinely happy and good person even though she’s been through so much. She’s loving and caring and she’d do literally anything for me.

Random Shamya Fun Facts:

1. Everyone has a different name for me, I’ve heard it all: Mya, Sham-ya, Shimmy, Shamy-my, Shamwow, Shamrock, Shamwa, Moo moo, Shamalamadingdong
2. My favorite singer is The Weeknd, his songs are very relatable to me and they have such a good vibe. Taylor Swift is also an all time favorite, she’s just altogether amazing and she has a different song for all my moods. My favorite song is Blinding Lights by The Weeknd.
3. I don’t like watching sports that much but I like watching cheerleading sometimes and dancing. I loveeee playing football it’s so much fun!
4. What is the most daring thing you have ever done? I don’t really know. I do a lot of daring things. I’ll pretty much do anything for a dare, i’m not scared of anything (except sharks, nope)
5. If I could travel anywhere in the wold, I would go to Hawaii because it looks gorgeous there and I love beaches and I’ve never been on an Island before and I want to. Me and my grandma are going there next year!!
6. What is your favorite fashion trend?  Cheetah print, I think it’s super cute.
7. What’s your favorite color to wear? I like wearing yellow and I also like wearing pink or red because I feel like those colors go really well with my skin tone.
8. What’s your usual school style? I usually wear leggings a lot lol but I love wearing skirts and dresses. It’s hard to do that at school super often because of our dress code.
9. What are your favorite clothing stores to shop at? I like H&M, forever 21, Hollister, Aeropostale, and I loveddd PacSun before it closed in Peoria mall
10. Why did you choose Shelby Photography? The photographs she produces are very professionally done and they always look good. I always got good vibes from looking at them.  The people she photographs look genuinely happy!