With high school graduation this weekend, Amelia Olaru, a Gorham native, will continue her education this fall at Pace University in New York City.

“I’m studying international relations,” she said of her plans for a major and a career during in an interview May 30 at Gorham High School’s main office.

Olaru, a National Honor Society student, will be among 180 Gorham seniors receiving diplomas in outdoor commencement exercises at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, on the stadium field at 41 Morrill Ave.

Gorham High School Principal Brian Jandreau recommended Olaru for recognition. “She is a rock star,” Jandreau said.

Olaru hopes the weather will be good for graduation and said she is excited. Olaru said she is the daughter of first-generation immigrants to the United States. Her mother, Dorothy, is from Poland and her father, Bogdan, from Romania.

“They are very excited for me as well,” Amelia said.

She said the Pace campus is in Manhattan, a block away from Wall Street in the financial district. She has been accepted to be housed in a dormitory with other honor students.

Pace was her preference of the 10 schools to which she submitted applications. She will travel to New York by train from Boston.

In high school, she participated in theater for four years, but won’t pursue stage productions at Pace, she said.

Olaru gained some political experience in high school. She served two years as a student representative on the town’s School Committee and job shadowed Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows one day this spring.

“She is a remarkable student who has assumed leadership, officially and unofficially, at Gorham High School and in our community,” Jandreau said.

The course as a senior that stood out was her “Holocaust class,” Olaru said.

She has also worked as a “busser” at the MK Kitchen, a restaurant in Gorham Village. “I work a lot and spend time with best friends,” she said.

While she has been busy, she takes time for the traveling she loves, going to the beach and shopping.

She was born and raised in Gorham. Olaru, with a ready smile, appears poised, confident and enthusiastic.

“I’m ready to do something new,” she said.