LAPLACE — Sydney Stewart of LaPlace wasn’t yet 11 years old when she became a published author in 2016 with the release of her debut book, “Beautiful, Wonderful, Marvelous Me!”

In the last three years, Sydney graduated from St. Joan of Arc as the seventh grade valedictorian and started high school at the St. John Parish STEM Magnet program.

Along the way, she learned the importance of setting goals to become the best version of herself. This revelation fueled her second novel, released this month.

Sydney celebrated the launch of her new young adult self-help book, “Be a Girl With Goals,” with support from friends Saturday at Belle Terre Country Club.

“Be a Girl With Goals” is currently a No. 1 Best Selling New Release in the Young Adult School & Education category on Amazon, and Sydney hopes her experiences will guide others to success.

Though she recently ended her eighth grade year with a 4.0 GPA, entering high school was a tough transition, according to Sydney.

“Previously, I had excelled in school, but now it was becoming more difficult for me to be the best at things I had normally been very good at,” Sydney said. “I just really didn’t feel like myself. In that moment, I kind of realized the reason I had been excelling before was because I had been setting goals for myself. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had set goals for everything.”

Setting goals gave her the final push to complete her first novel, keep up with sports while making good grades and maintain a close group of friends. Putting goals in writing helped the most, Sydney said, adding it was satisfying to cross achievements off her list.

“I found that was such a great strategy, and it’s what got me as far as I’ve gotten in my life,” Sydney said. “I wanted to share this gift, this strategy I’ve found, with other girls. I want to show other girls that setting goals for yourself can really help you become the best version of you that you can be.”

According to Sydney, introspection is the first step to setting a goal. By taking a moment of self-reflection, a girl can gain a better view of who she is and where she wants to go in life.

“Before you set a goal, you have to figure out who you are,” Sydney said. “As teenagers, it’s a bit harder to figure out you are because you feel like everyone is trying to tell you who you are. The very first thing you have to do is assess yourself. That’s when you begin thinking, ‘I have a vision for myself. Now how to I get there?’”

Much like a sports tournament set-up, big “wins” come once a series of smaller goals are achieved, according to Sydney.

In her book, Sydney reminds readers that life is not a contest. There will always be someone more skilled in any given area.

With that knowledge, Sydney said every girl should strive not to be the best in the world, but to offer the best version of herself to the world.

Sydney’s mother, Letitia Stewart, said her daughter is a unique spirit, confident in her individuality.

“She’s always been someone who was always studious and loved the arts,” Stewart said. “She just always wanted to do things that other kids probably weren’t interested in. What makes me most proud is realizing that while she’s working hard, she’s okay with being different. She’s very happy in her own skin and happy being herself.”

Sydney is setting goals for herself to get back into volleyball and cross country, become more social and work on her next writing project.

She has words of advice for anyone considering publishing a book.

“Just do it. It’s a lot of work, but once the final product is there, it’s going to feel so worth it,” Sydney said. “When you go around showing it to people and they’re telling you how much it may have helped them, that’s the best feeling ever.”

Sydney is the daughter of Travis and Letitia Stewart of LaPlace. She’s a special role model to younger sister Victoria.