BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge teen picks up another huge honor Thursday evening.

Che'dra Joseph is a Senior at McKinley High School, earning a 4.5 GPA. She's also McKinley's Student of the Year. In January, Joseph had the opportunity to introduce the President, when he visited McKinley High School for a town hall meeting.

She took a few pieces of memorabilia home that day, including her introduction speech, signed by President Barack Obama.

At 18, Joseph is still pretty busy taking college prep courses, working on the weekends and participating in extra-curricular activities including Beta Club, ROTC and Gay Straight Alliance. She's also a member of the National Honor Society.

Tonight her leadership was recognized, by the McKinley High School Alumni Association.

Just one more honor as she prepares for the next stage of her life. Joseph says she hopes to become a landscape architect or an environmental engineer, but first she wants to serve her country.

"I've decided to go active duty in the navy," Joseph said. "Then afterwards, go back to school for the things that I'm interested in."

For the students who will come after her, Joseph left this bit of advice.

"Don't get discouraged because you're not afforded the same opportunities as everybody else, you just have to work a little harder to get there," Joseph said.

Joseph graduates from McKinley in May.