Presidential Scholars  2005

Records 66 through 90 out of 141

	Brittany M. Lee Franklin, TN Christ Presbyterian Academy College/College Plans: University of Georgia   Always one to strive for excellence, my high school career has been one full of fun successful experiences. From being named a Wendy's High School Heisman National Finalist to being on the All-State Soccer and Basketball Teams, I have enjoyed every day as a gift from God. My family has been supportive in every endeavor, and has helped shaped my love for athletics that spurred me on to letter in eight sports during high school. Being named salutatorian for our senior class while at the same time being student body president is an honor. Having to move cities during my junior year was quite an obstacle to overcome, but optimism and my faith helped be to persevere and reach my goals for high school.
	Felicity M. Lenes Mount Pleasant, SC Wando High School College/College Plans: The University of Texas at Dallas   Felicity defies stereotypes. A National Merit Finalist, her school's valedictorian and the reigning Miss Wando, Felicity is as comfortable in a tiara as she is tutoring fellow students. She is the Lowerstate SC SAT Team Individual Champion, a Governor's Scholar and a varsity swimming, Quiz Bowl, and Ocean Science Bowl letterwoman. An editor of Wando's nationally-ranked newspaper, Tribal Tribune, Felicity is first vice president of the SC Scholastic Press Association. She is president of Wando's National Honor Society (NHS) and received the state’s NHS Leadership Scholarship. As vice president of Mu Alpha Theta, she has captained the girl's math team to statewide victories. She played first violin with the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra, has won several concerto competitions, and has soloed in London. Felicity plans a major in molecular biology as a McDermott Scholar at the University of Texas at Dallas and aspires to become a physician after a stint as a Rhodes Scholar.
	Emily Lentz Milbank, SD Milbank High School College/College Plans: Drake University   Growing up in a small, anonymous town in the middle of the South Dakota cornfields has proven to be a blessing for me. It has given me a background that is quickly becoming lost to the fast-paced life of urban America. I’ve had the opportunity to be student body president at a school in which I know every student by name. I’ve known my volleyball teammates all of my life, and my forensics team is like my family. Being involved is stressed in my school, and I feel that I have met the challenge. Besides being in volleyball and forensics, I have participated in band and tennis, I have volunteered at Red Cross blood drives and as a youth mentor, and I have served as prom chairman and junior class vice president. I fill what free time I have with reading, swimming, piano, and a part-time job.
	Andre M. Leone Las Cruces, NM Mesilla Valley Christian Schools College/College Plans: University of Tulsa   Andre is a jack-of-all-trades. He is a musician, an athlete, a scientist, a poet-philosopher, and a leader. He grew up playing the piano, has taught himself guitar and accordion, and has played in a jazz band. As an athlete, he runs frequently, climbs every rock he can find, and competes in soccer and basketball. Last summer Andre worked at New Mexico State University doing research on carbon dioxide sequestration and is planning on studying Engineering Physics—the genuine rocket science. He has found poetry to be a satisfying method of expressing his philosophies, and has been a finalist in several poetry competitions. Leadership is integrated into these roles as a worship leader in church, captain of his soccer and basketball teams, and roles in student government. Life has taught him that if something is worth being done, it’s worth doing well.
	Mary Beth Liederbach Petoskey, MI Petoskey High School College/College Plans: Undecided   Into the far northeast coast of Lake Michigan juts a tranquil bay surrounded by hills, forests, and farms. On the shore of that bay rests the busy little town of Petoskey. In Petoskey lies an ordinary street with a simple twostory house and a gravel driveway, and in that modest house live Mom, Dad, Mary Beth, and her four younger siblings. If you visit, you’re likely to find Mary Beth perched on a couch reading a book, but she might be playing her violin, French horn, or piano. She might be outside raking leaves or hanging laundry. She might be joking with Patrick, braiding Margaret’s hair, helping Freddie with math, or changing Sarah’s diaper. She could be off to orchestra, work, youth group, teaching violin, or at a friend’s to make goofy videos. Whatever she is doing, she is doing it quietly, modestly, and with a generous, loving spirit.
	Janice L. Lin Indianapolis, IN Lawrence North High School College/College Plans: Indiana University Bloomington   I'm currently a candidate for a Biology B.S. and an Individualized Major (Romance Languages) B.A., both with honors. In addition, I am minoring in chemistry and economics. On the side, I enjoy volunteering, participating in many extracurriculars, lab research, and the fine arts.
	Christian S. Ling Wailuku, HI Maui High School College/College Plans: Boston University   Although born on the busy island of O’ahu, Christian Ling is truly a Maui boy at heart. Competitive without being overbearing, and studious without a trace of fanaticism, Christian still manages to gain distinction for himself at the state and national level. As a three-time State Science Bowl Champion, two-time State Ocean Science Bowl Champion, and four-year Math League veteran, he has proven his aptitude and passion for science and math. Christian is also a musician; he has been a French horn player for three years and is first seat in the Symphonic Band. In addition, he is learning to play the guitar. Christian also serves his campus and community as president of Maui High’s National Honor Society and a member of Key Club. During his free time Christian enjoys reading, listening to music, and writing poetry. He currently entertains the prospect of becoming a biomedical engineer after college.
	Grace Lu Kennesaw, GA The Walker School College/College Plans: Yale University   Ambitious and creative, Grace's interests are wide-ranging. Her lifelong passion for the arts led her to create Art Club, through which Grace has organized numerous artistic projects, including a 60-foot long mural for a preschool building. Avid in languages, Grace is fluent in English and Chinese and has taken classes in Latin, French, and Spanish. In 2003, she traveled to Nice, France, for four weeks on a student exchange. In the sciences, Grace is co president of Mu Alpha Theta and Science Olympiad at her school. Last summer, she attended the Research Science Institute at Caltech, studying the release of respirable pollen allergens in an attempt to better understand the link between allergies and asthma. Grace is also activities coordinator for the Social Sciences Honor Society and an active member of the National Honor Society and Walker Drama. In her leisure, Grace enjoys jogging, playing volleyball, drawing and playing the piano.
	Marilynn Ly Tempe, AZ Corona del Sol High School College/College Plans: Yale University   I am in love. First and foremost, I love my family, which includes my amazing mother, buddy-dad, and two spunky sisters. I love learning—it’s my favorite thing to do! I devour writing in every form it comes in, whether it be textbooks, newspaper, poetry, plays, or novels. My third love is volunteering, especially with children. It makes my heart smile in a million different places when I get the opportunity to help someone in need. I love to travel because I can create a worldwide family; I have been to Italy, France, Switzerland, Canada, Hawaii, and Vietnam. My dream is to give my family and the world all the wonderful things it has given me. I will begin making my dream a reality by becoming a cardiovascular surgeon; after all, I love so many things that I might as well deal with matters of the heart for a career!
	Cullen O. Macbeth Washington, DC St. Alban’s School College/College Plans: Yale University   I love being involved in the life of my school. At the end of my sophomore year, I earned an appointment as opinions/editorials editor of our school newspaper, and the next year rose to be a co-editor-in-chief. After two years spent debating in the Government Club, I was elected last spring as co-liberal president, given the responsibility of helping organize and run the club’s meetings. This year I have served on the student council as a senior prefect and have spent the winter and spring working with teachers and other students to improve the student body’s understanding of the Honor Council in an effort to heighten community awareness of and dedication to honor. For the past three years I have also rowed crew, and I earned a silver medal in 2003 at the Scholastic National Regatta in the lightweight four event.
	Elizabeth Ashmore MacFarlane Oxford, GBR Phillips Exeter Academy College/College Plans: Princeton University   I am an American living in England. I go to boarding school in the United States. As a child, I was confused about identity, perceived as American in England and English in America. At home we always had visitors from around the world. Hearing about their countries, I came to love my broad identity. I read avidly as a child, learning about as many people as possible. My concern for people brought me to volunteer in an Irish community for disabled children for the past two summers, where I will also volunteer next year. I love English, history, religion and creative writing. I don’t know what I will be. I want to change people’s lives and to help the world, be it through aid work, writing or academics, remaining true to my upbringing by drawing the world closer while expanding my horizons and those of others around me.
	Paul Magyar Providence, RI Classical High School College/College Plans: Dartmouth College   I have always been curious about the world around me. This curiosity has led me to a passion for science, and I have conducted research in environmental science and geology over the past seven years. This work has given me the chance to participate in the Rhode Island and International Science and Engineering Fairs and to be semifinalist in the Intel STS program. I have explored many other areas of science through the National Science Olympiad. Additionally, as an Eagle Scout, I have had many opportunities to explore the natural world. In a different realm, I enjoy learning about the people of the past and have studied Rhode Island’s historical figures. My school’s motto is a quote from Tennyson’s Ulysses: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield;” this is a tenet I will continue to pursue.
	Dhruv Maheshwari Wayne, NJ Wayne Valley Senior High School College/College Plans: Harvard College   Dhruv is a scholar who is always searching for something new and challenging to investigate. Whenever he comes across an area that intrigues him, he seizes the opportunity to learn more and think of new applications. Over the past several years, this has led him to explore in great depth topical fields such as astrophysics, biochemistry, discrete mathematics, and architecture. He hopes to someday synthesize different, seemingly disparate fields of study to provide solutions to problems being faced by modern society. He is also a leader, having served as the president of his school's student council, Junior Statesmen of America chapter, and computer club, as well as editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and captain of the Quiz Bowl team. He enjoys playing several musical instruments in his spare time, and is a competitive tennis player. He serves the community through volunteer tutoring and Vivekananda Vidyapith, a youth organization.
	Kyle Mahowald Fort Lauderdale, FL Pine Crest School College/College Plans: Harvard College   My general philosophy is to work hard at whatever activity or passion I choose to pursue. As co-editor of the school newspaper, I take great pleasure in English classes, although I also often enjoy work in math and the sciences. Perhaps because of my love for words and English, I have a passion for solving and creating puzzles of all types, particularly crosswords. My crossword puzzles have appeared in the Tribune Media Service, Universal Press Syndicate, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times. Another great passion of mine is tennis, which I have enjoyed playing for almost my entire life, and at the varsity level for six years in high school. I also love many other sports and can often be found playing games of pickup football, hockey, and basketball, or cheering on my beloved Dolphins and Marlins at the stadium.
	Andrew L. Malcolm Fort Lauderdale, FL Pine Crest School College/College Plans: Princeton University   As a rare “native son” of South Florida, Andrew has strived to soak up the experiences and diversity of his unique community. From a very young age, public service has been his passion, leading him to serve in numerous leadership roles in political campaigns on the national, state, and local levels. He has sought to expand his campaign experiences into other areas, serving on the student council, editing the school newspaper, and working in the U.S. House of Representatives as both a page and an intern for Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Andrew has strived to serve others and discover his heritage by collecting and distributing books to independent libraries in Cuba through the organization he founded, Libros Para La Libertad.
	Dylan B. Mathieu Madison, WI West High School College/College Plans: Washington University   With interests in the physical sciences, athletics, and social justice, I participate in a variety of activities that range from meteorology research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison to delivering meals to homebound elderly through Meals-on-Wheels. As a captain of a State Premier soccer team and a two-year high school varsity player, I have embraced soccer since childhood. The sport has influenced me beyond my athletics on the field, as I coach underprivileged youth each Saturday and referee in the spring and fall. I proposed, organized, and directed summer soccer camps on a Native American reservation in Sisseton, South Dakota, during my sophomore year, and the camps have since expanded as the sport becomes increasingly popular in the community. Through the West Rocketry Club, I have developed an interest for rocketry that recently culminated in a successful high-powered launch at the Marshall Space Flight Center through the NASA Student Launch Initiative.
	Caitlin L. McAuliffe North Miami Beach, FL Pine Crest School College/College Plans: Yale University   At the age of three, Caitlin announced that she would never go to school and never take music lessons. Her early pronouncement was eventually forgotten as Caitlin eagerly engaged each new subject in school, completing her third grade year ready for Algebra I. In the years since, Caitlin has excelled in math and science competitions, held positions of leadership in her community and school, been a hospital operating room volunteer, and engaged in summer study in genetics and molecular biology. Her interest in science is equaled by her passion for music. From her first public performance at the age of four, Caitlin has won violin competitions, sat as concert mistress in orchestras, founded the Helios Quartet, and performed to live and television audiences throughout South Florida. Most recently she was featured in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel prior to her performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra.
	Walter F. McClean Woodbridge, VA Gar-Field High School College/College Plans: The College of William and Mary   I’ve bounced around a little bit in these past 18 years. Living in northern Virginia, then living five years in Germany before returning stateside, my family eventually found its way right back to northern Virginia. Throughout high school, I have been participating in the International Baccalaureate Program, which I casually refer to as “AP on Steroids.” Besides copious amounts of homework, I was active in Model United Nations, theater, and academic team. Outside of school, I earned my Eagle Scout Award, am active in my church youth group, and have taken up fencing. I plan on studying economics and government in college, hopefully pursuing a double major, which would lay a nice foundation for graduate school and beyond. I plan to work in politics though I still have not made the decision to focus on national or international politics.
	Ian M. McKinley Sandy, UT Skyline High School College/College Plans: Brigham Young University   Since his birth, Ian has been an international traveler. During the first ten years of his life, he lived in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, New Jersey, and Singapore. He’s a multi-talented student and loves most every subject (with the possible exception of P.E.). He has taken 12 Advanced Placement tests in many categories over his high school experience, with outstanding results. He has long loved reading, cooking, and gardening, and his favorite cuisine, both to cook and to eat, is Thai. Through service, he has influenced many lives as a Skyline High Service Scholar, president of the Skyline Key Club, and vice president of Operation Smile. He will attend Brigham Young University, where he plans to pursue a joint degree in mathematics and music performance. For postgraduate studies, he plans to get a degree in finance and rekindle his love for overseas travel.
	Candace A. Mitchell Gainesville, FL Phillips Academy College/College Plans: Duke University, Columbia University, or Brown University   Candace Mitchell is a 2005 Level I Winner for writing in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search. She has won the Goodhue Prize, the Charles Snow Burns Poetry Prize, and the Library of Congress Literary Letters Contest Award; in addition, she has won third place in the English Teachers of Alachua County Fiction Contest and won first place in the English Teachers of Alachua County Holocaust Essay Contest. She was a semi-finalist in the Ayn Rand Essay Contest. Candace acknowledges her mother, Cecelia Mitchell, for providing guidance, support, and courage in her artistic pursuits. She has always been interested in writing, but was encouraged to find her voice after reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.
	Anish Mitra Lincoln, NE Lincoln East High School College/College Plans: Stanford University   Anish Mitra is an 18-year-old high school senior at East High School. He participates in forensics and won the 2004 Harvard National Extemporaneous Speaking Award, as well as placing fifth in the U.S. in extemporaneous speaking at the 2004 National Forensic League’s National Tournament. Anish Mitra is also an accomplished bassist and has played with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra for the last three years. Anish has won several bass playing accolades, including a top five finish at the 2001 International Society of Bassists 14-and-under Solo Competition, the 2002 Emerson Full Tuition Scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy Summer Camp in Michigan, and first place at the 2004 American String Teachers Association 19-and-under String Bass National Solo Competition. Anish volunteers actively teaching young bassists at music camps and serves as president of YouthInspire, a youth-run volunteer foundation. In his spare time Anish enjoys reading, running, and listening to music.
	Matthew Mudd Kodiak, AK Home School College/College Plans: Harvard College   I am a self-motivated, often self-taught student, and I currently hail from an area where grizzly bears constitute the local majority. My major accomplishments include rounding up wild horses, surviving eastern Oregon wildfires and a boat fire in Alaskan waters, and living on a secluded island for three months while seeing no one other than my immediate family. My other various accomplishments include serving as vice president of the local Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society chapter, Who’s Who 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, National Honor Roll inductee, and many other things. As I gaze around my room where I am preparing this revealing document, I am reminded of time spent with friends touring Turkey, chilling out in Florida, cruising Rhode Island, walking the beaches of Kodiak, and road-tripping with my best friend Bill. If my epitaph could read one thing, I would like it to say: “If nothing else, he was a good friend.”
	Tracy A. Mumford Portland, OR St. Mary’s Academy College/College Plans: Hamilton College   Tracy has spent the last four years living life. She enjoys staircases, long division, ice cream, the line-item veto, irregularly conjugated French verbs, lawn gnomes, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, gerrymandering, short stories by Canadian authors, Easter eggs, public transit, technical theatre, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Guster, New Zealand poetry, polydactyl cats, Marion berry pie, Greek islands, De Jonge v. Oregon, fire escapes, the Willamette River, orange suits and shoes, Texas airports, Virginia Woolf, gold pens, Jackie Chan, mitosis, minivans, soundboards, the rain, blue hair, coffee shops, pterodactyls, cartwheels, alphaketogluterate, midnight walks to the bus stop, and her friends. Next year, Tracy will be working in the South Pacific to warm up before heading off for school on the frigid East Coast.
	Theresa L. Myers Portland, OR St. Mary’s Academy College/College Plans: Carnegie Mellon University   Theresa, besides working hard enough to become valedictorian, is involved in a plethora of activities. She enjoys running in circles after balls (read: playing soccer and lacrosse), spending time in windowless rooms (participating in theater), adding sugar to the diet of senior citizens (organizing birthday parties at a low-income assisted-living center), and vicariously reliving the horror of imminent middle school (mentoring a fifth grader). To ensure that she has no time for a job, she volunteers—as a tutor to children in transitional housing, as a meal server at a homeless shelter, and as a student leader at Outdoor School. She also pursues such quaint hobbies as eating, sleeping, and acquiring every possible lung-related disease (currently, she has whooping cough; she’s working on catching influenza next). In ten years, she plans to be living in a foreign country, to have been scuba diving, and to possess some sort of degree.
	Arvind R. Nagarajan Novi, MI Detroit Country Day School College/College Plans: Yale University   I am determined to make a difference in the world of children through leadership and dedication. The young ones begging for sustenance in the shadows of the beautiful Taj Mahal is a haunting memory for me. Consequently, my volunteer and paid positions have involved helping children. I teach tennis on a volunteer basis at the Boys and Girls Clubs in Detroit and USTA community outreach programs since I am a nationally ranked tennis player, having played competitive tennis for nine years. At Balavihar, I teach children about Indian history, religion, and culture. I am deeply concerned about environmental degradation. Next month I begin a research project on green roofs. Having been captain of the varsity tennis team for two years and class board treasurer for four years, I hope to lead efforts in sustainable business development to eradicate poverty among children and preserve nature.

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