BALTIMORE — 10-year-old BelleGabrielle Annibal won a video essay contest for the Council for Economic Education by exploring the economic impact of the Johns Hopkins system.
The homeschooled fourth grader highlighted the hospital system's investments, research, and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in her award-winning video. She also shared her dream of becoming a plastic surgeon at Johns Hopkins.
10-year-old BelleGabrielle Annibal won a video essay contest and spent a day at Johns Hopkins! Watch to learn about her dream to be a surgeon:
"We heard about this contest, and they were saying what the local economy impacts the global economy. So, in my video, I explored the Johns Hopkins system, highlighting its investments, research, and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I concluded by sharing my dream of. To becoming a plastic surgeon at Johns Hopkins," BelleGabrielle Annibal said.
BelleGabrielle Annibal wants to pursue plastic surgery to help others.
"So I can help people who have cleft lipped, who have been in accidents and cancer patients who need reconstructive surgery, because I just want to help people feel better about themselves inside and the outside and so that they can truly know that they are beautiful, not only on the inside but they are," BelleGabrielle Annibal said.
As the winner of the essay contest, BelleGabrielle Annibal spent a day behind the scenes at Johns Hopkins. She met the mascot, Jay, and spent time with researchers while wearing her own lab coat.
"Well, adults sometimes don't hear our voices. They don't really see who we truly are on the inside, but that's not always the case. They do see us, and Johns Hopkins, that community just reached out and supported the youth. They supported me and they just reached out to me," BelleGabrielle Annibal said.
BelleGabrielle Annibal is inspired by her family, including her older sister, BelleGrace, who won the same competition a few years ago. Her father, Jean-Yves-Annibal, serves as her French teacher, and her mother, Trenessa Coffey-Annibal, is her homeschool instructor and a graduate of Johns Hopkins.
"Encourage that curiosity because you never know what path it might lead them down. .... Pour into them and teach them what I think they need to know, but incredibly proud and very grateful to God for the opportunity and advantages that we've been given," Trenessa Coffey-Annibal said.
BelleGabrielle Annibal also has experience on the stage, performing in a local production of "Fences," where she delivered lines about the Hopkins East Baltimore Redevelopment Project being an 88-acre site that includes new housing and economic activity through local partnerships.
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