valley sun all-star Talar Malakian:

She’s described by her counselor at Crescenta Valley High School as an “amazing, high-achieving, positive young person.”

This week’s CV Sun All-Star is CV High student Talar Malakian.

Malakian, 16, is very mature and makes a great contribution to all of the projects she’s involved in, said Jennifer Widaman, CV High counselor.

“She’s not perfect, she has her struggles, but she handles them well and has a great attitude,” Widaman said.

Malakian was born in Valencia and is the daughter of Marie and Barkev Malakian of La Crescenta. She has a sister, Anoush, 20, who is a student at Cal State Northridge.

Talar Malakian attended Armenian Sisters Academy in Montrose for kindergarten through eighth grade and is now a junior at CV High.

Faith is important to Malakian, who grew up in Glendale Armenian Church of the Nazarene. “I think it is important to act on your beliefs,” Malakian said, adding, “I am a Christian and I enjoy going to church. I sing for the church praise team — I love to sing.”

She is involved in many activities within the Armenian community and last summer did an internship with the Armenian National Committee of Glendale. She also writes for the Oragark, an Armenian monthly newsletter, covering activities she is involved with, as well as issues that involve local Armenians.

And, she is CV High’s student representative to the Commission on the Status of Women, a city of Glendale six-member group designed to assess and evaluate the needs of women in the community, as well as serve as a liaison with the city and recommend programs, education, and legislation to benefit the needs of women in the community.

In addition to her studies at the high school, and her community involvement, Malakian enjoys reading, writing and playing basketball. She currently serves as a coach for her junior high basketball team. She also said she’d love to take time for running, and more exercise, but somehow seems to run out of time.

Politics are a passion for Malakian, who hopes in college to major in communications with an emphasis on politics. “My dream school is Stanford,” she said, adding that she will attend a Junior Statesmen of America three-week program at Stanford University in June.

Malakian became interested in politics through work with the Armenian National Committee of Glendale. “My internship really opened my eyes to how important communication is with people,” she said.

She’s not ruling out a career in politics, but she said, if she runs for office, she will live by her current motto: “Act on what you say. Don’t say something and not follow through.”

A lack of follow through is one of the main problems in the world today, she said, adding, “It’s very important to be true to what you say and who you are.”