COVINGTON, Ky. — Covington’s Antaya Epps says it's important to be a role model. The senior at Holmes High School has a 4.6 GPA and is ranked number one in her class at the oldest public high school in the state. She said she is “very proud, it's something that not a lot of people can say. It's great.”
Her commitment to academics was evident early in her high school career, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some kids used remote learning as a chance to slack off, but Epps did not. Her chemistry teacher Olivia Fields said, “Sometimes there were days where I didn’t see a kid all day and I had the last bell of the class and there she was, the only one by herself, just signed on waiting for me on my Google meet. So that made a huge impact, just the motivation aspect of just literally showing up and wanting to learn.”
That excellence extends outside the classroom, where she’s an elite athlete: a standout basketball player, an all-district volleyball player and top 10 in the state in the 200-meter dash.
Fields is also her track coach and explained, “We compete in unified events, which means they pair a special education student with one of our student athletes on the track team and they buddy up and compete in certain events together. She was one of the students who always is willing to take on a unified partner and she’s amazing with the kids. It’s interesting because you really see a light shone brightly on some of our student athletes when they’re put in a position like that because some of them are comfortable and willing to push themselves to help this other individual and some other kids, you can tell are not as comfortable. She’s always one that has gladly taken a partner.”
Epps also mentors local elementary school students. “I’ve always loved working with kids. It’s just something about kids that brings me joy,” she said. “If I feel like I’m having a bad day, I’ll go mentor and my kids just bring me life, like they bring me back. They just help me in ways that they don’t even know.”
That passion for young people will guide her career. She wants to get her doctorate and become a Pediatric Occupational Therapist, describing it as “basically where you help people who are struggling.”
“Somebody has a disability, somebody can’t really speak, like kids who are behind at their age, those who need a little bit of help,” she explained. “You’ll basically help them get back on track. You’ll help them regroup, help them rethink positively of their life.”
Fields has high hopes for what Epps can achieve. “The possibilities are endless for a kid like Taya because she’s motivated, she’s intelligent and she’s friendly to boot. She’s the well-rounded package,” Fields said.
That special mix of smarts, speed and service is a winning combination, and the reason Antaya Epps is a deserving Spectrum News 1 High School Scholar.