Senior Spotlight: Alexis Valance ’25

From coding robots to constructing seawalls, designing sustainable beauty packaging to mentoring young scientists, Alexis Valance ’25 offers a unique blend of curiosity, creativity and determination. 

A standout scholar and engineer, she earned Shorecrest’s STEAM Certificate in Computer Science - a distinction awarded to students who complete a rigorous, research-based project over the course of their senior year. Her project, Blissful Thinking: The Recycled Cartridge to Combat Beauty’s Packaging Crisis, reimagines cosmetic packaging as a system of refillable cartridges and interchangeable wands. It is a thoughtfully engineered and beautifully presented way to reduce the overwhelming plastic waste produced by the beauty industry. 

This spirit of innovation is just as evident in the robotics lab, where Alexis has been a cornerstone of Shorecrest’s VEX Robotics team. As both a builder and team leader, she mentored five novice teammates, teaching them to blueprint, laser-cut, and assemble robots made from steel, aluminum, and pneumatics. 

“While our more experienced robotics team placed at the VEX Tournament,” one teacher explained, “Alexis chose to be on a team with our newer members to help them through their first tournament experience. While a star at programming and constructing the robots, Alexis doesn’t care about the trophy. She cares about the bigger picture, allowing all students to be part of such an incredible team. The word humble is thrown around a lot when describing students, but Alexis is the exemplification of humble. She is one of those students who is busy doing good in the world, but many would not know because she hustles in silence.”

Outside of VEX, Alexis built a robot from scratch using recycled parts for the CREATE Open Robotics National Tournament and earned the prestigious Judge’s Award. She also volunteered at Middle School FIRST LEGO League competitions, analyzing data, judging innovation projects, and ensuring the youngest robotics students were celebrated for their ideas and effort. There she was recognized by the West Florida FIRST Region with a Volunteer of the Year award.

And while technology is clearly a love, Alexis is equally passionate about the art of storytelling through film. She has directed and edited dozens of videos for both Shorecrest, The Chronicle, and her personal YouTube channel, transforming hours of raw footage and gaming footage into compelling narratives. Her talents earned her the Shorecrest Aspiring Visual Artist Award and a Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention.

Alexis is also engaged in her community. An alumni camper of Oceanography Camp for Girls, she has returned to volunteer each summer to share her love of marine science with campers. As a camp counselor at American Stage she encouraged children to take creative risks and explore their imaginations. As President of the French Club, she led fundraising efforts for students in Senegal, and as Social Media Manager for the STEAM Club for Girls, she lifted up the voices and successes of other young women in STEAM.

It is no surprise that Alexis has been inducted into numerous honor societies: Cum Laude Society, National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, National French Honor Society, and National Art Honor Society - and received accolades such as the Shorecrest Core Values Award for Respect and the Guillemette Laitier Prix d’Honneur.

Quietly extraordinary and endlessly inventive, Alexis has spent her Shorecrest years showing others what’s possible when you learn from everyone. This fall she will bring her brilliance and vision to Purdue University, while the younger students she inspired at Shorecrest will carry forward the curiosity she helped nurture.