Gabriella: What were some of the extracurricular activities that you participated in? Well, I said Speech and Debate and Model United Nations were the two really fun ones. I just came from Academic World Quest, which is like this huge geography, history, current events quiz competition. I have done a lot of math competitions. I know you guys do the State Math Competition in the spring. In high school, you can actually win scholarships. I took an APS class, Advanced Problems in Science, where you basically do your own independent research project and then you get to present it at different science fairs and research symposiums around the state. That was really fun, too. Gracie: What can you say to the people who are working towards senior year? For the freshmen, sophomore, and juniors? I would say, don’t stop working hard in your classes just because it feels like high school is coming to a close. It’s really easy to start slacking off, which kind of happened to me a little bit, but it’s really important to stay focused even though you are coming to the end. If you finish strong, that is even better than if you were to just kind of taper off in the end. (left to right) Gracie, Gabriella, and Ezekiel talk about how to succeed in high school Gabriella: Do you see any connection to during a recent interview at MIS.
Debate] also has a much more inclusive atmosphere. The coaches connect well with the students and I think Hellgate does a really good job of making students feel included. Gabriella: What is senior year like for you personally? It’s very stressful but at the same time it’s exciting to be looking into the future, looking to see what is going to happen. There is definitely a lot of stress involved because it is still unclear, but at the same time, you know, you start to get excited about where you are going to go next, you are becoming more independent, breaking away from home. Gracie: What are just some of the awards that you have won, since there are probably a lot of them? True. (He laughs.) I was, or I am currently, a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist. I am still waiting to hear back about that, but that is really exciting for me because that has to do with how you do on the PSATs your junior year and whether you qualify. I did really well at Model United Nations this year and I had a really good time doing it. I got to be Pakistan at the General Assembly and I won a lot of awards, and I got a scholarship to the UN if I want to go there. I’ve also been doing well and having a really great time in Speech and Debate. There are a bunch of different events. I do legislative debate, where we kind of pretend we are Congress, and I have been in the top three for almost all of the meets.
your interest in Model United Nations and going to MIS? I think MIS definitely helped me take a more global perspective on the world and look at the world in a larger way than being domestically focused and that has helped me be a good participant in MUN. Model United Nations is a lot of fun. It’s really unique in the way that you get to pretend to be from a different country. Gabriella: Cool! Well, that’s it for now. Gracie and Gabriella: Thank you! Thank you!
ò MIS Class of 2013 in the news: Congratulations to Ingrid Biehl, MIS Class of 2013, for being among the top four finalists to advance to Regionals in the Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest. The contest was created in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation to increase awareness in the art of performing poetry.
5