VIDALIA — Eighth grader Miranda Gonzales wears a lot of hats as a student, athlete, musician and even teacher.

But now she has another hat to wear — student of the year.

The 13-year-old Vidalia Junior High School student was given that designation by her teachers earlier this school year, a choice Principal Whest Shirley said he wholeheartedly supported.

“We couldn’t have a better representative,” Shirley said. “She is a wonderful student and very active.”

And Gonzales is active.

She’s president of the student council, vice president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, plays softball and basketball, sings with the school’s gifted-and-talented program and is active at church.

If she had to get rid of all of all the other extracurricular activities and keep only one, she would stick with music, Gonzales said.

“I have been singing since I was little,” she said. “My mom says I almost started singing before I started talking.”

And it is because she loves music that she wants to share it with others, both by performing — she plays the piano and guitar — and by teaching it to younger children at her church.

Since August, Gonzales has taught the handbell choir composed of 5- to 8-year-olds at Calvary Baptist Church.

“It is really the first class I have really taught, but I have always wanted to teach the things I know,” she said.

Gonzales sat in the class one week when her mother was teaching the class, and she said her mother was so impressed with how Miranda worked with the younger children that she talked with the church leadership about allowing Miranda to teach the class.

“I thought it was cool, and it seemed like a lot of fun to me,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep their attention, but I enjoy it.”

And even if it isn’t as a teacher, Gonzales wants to share her love of music with the world.

“I don’t know what I want to be, but I have dreams about being a big contemporary Christian artist,” she said.

Some of the musicians who inspire her are Jeremy Camp and Brenda Cole, Gonzales said.

“Everything I do is for God,” she said. “It is all for his glory — he created me with my talents, so I am going to use them for him.”