Gulbadanbegim Bayniyazova is an exchange student from Uzbekistan, who is a junior at Rockbridge County High School. She is from an autonomic republic in Uzbekistan called Karakalpakstan. She’s 16 years old and enjoys reading books, listening to music, learning foreign languages and writing novels. She speaks 5 languages, which are: Karakalpak, Uzbek, Russian, English and a bit of Spanish. She is a member of RCHS’s cross country and swimming teams. She’s a two time gold holder from the Republic Olympiad from russian and literature. In the future, she wants to travel around the world and explore new places. Her favorite artist is Doja Cat. Since she studied in russian school in her home country, she mostly reads Russian literature, like Fyodor Dostaevski, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Lermontov and Aleksandr Pushkin. She’s really excited to be a reporter for RCHS Prowler and hopes to develop her editing skills.

She has a vlog channel on Telegram, where she shares her exchange year experience. Her favorite quote is ‘Aim to the moon and even if you fail, you will stay among the stars’ :)