North Central: Kaylinn Compogno ‘not only leads but she also follows, listens and guides’

Kaylinn Compogno has a leadership drive that is unmatched. However, it did not come easily.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantines locked everyone away in their homes, causing a real struggle for teens who were re-entering regular school environments.

Learning how to interact with high school-age classmates can be a challenge without a pandemic. But Compogno had an additional struggle that she had to overcome when she started at North Central High School.

“I went to a different high school than most of my friends from middle school. So that already (felt) like I didn’t have friends,” Compogno said.

Her freshman year started off with a hybrid learning environment, so community-building opportunities were almost entirely inaccessible.

“She had quite a bit of anxiety. So she struggled a little bit adjusting to the school,” said her mother, Nicole Compogno. “But by the end of sophomore year and beginning of junior year, she really began to flourish.”

Much of this adjustment took place with the extracurricular leadership opportunities that Compogno was able to immerse herself in when hybrid learning ended.

Compogno has been a member of Shades, North Central’s multicultural club, since she was a freshman. However, by her junior year, she had stepped into the vice president role. This year, she was president.

“She was given that position because of her ability to be a leader in all aspects. She not only leads but she also follows, listens and guides,” said Shamerica Nakamura, the school community facilitator at North Central.

The years that Compogno was involved, Shades was responsible for many large events on campus, which forced her to be knowledgeable and involved in happenings within the school.

“My junior year, we took over the Martin Luther King Jr. Convention. Leadership usually did that, but we took it over as a club, which was something really big for us. And then we just started doing different events from different cultures,” Compogno said.

Compogno has also consistently worked two jobs throughout her high school career.

“She works multiple jobs to help take care of her family while also maintaining AP classes and a high GPA,” Nakamura said.

Gonzaga University has offered Compogno its Unity Scholarship, a full-ride award for the next school year. Her mother said it fulfilled Compogno’s dream.

“She has wanted to go to Gonzaga since she was little,” Compogno’s mother said. “I was a little bit nervous because she was talking about applying for schools farther away. For the first year or two I wanted her to be closer in case she ran into any issues. So I was happy to hear that she still wanted to go to GU.”

Compogno intends to study social justice at GU, with the hope of becoming a judge or having a job in social work.

“I want to study social work and maybe get my masters in (it) and then get licensed to be a political social worker,” Compogno said.

Compogno said she’ll miss the family feel of North Central most after graduation.

“I feel like it’s going to be hard to go from bleeding red and black to going to a completely different school and having to build up again,” Compogno said, referencing the school colors of NC.

This is not a worry that any of Compogno’s supporters have for her. Compogno’s mother said her daughter will thrive in college.

“She is so incredibly passionate and driven,” Nicole Compogno said. “She wants to change the world and she can do that.”