Discus Award Winner
Winners Gallery
PHOTOS
Lauren Mathews
12th Grade, TX
ATTRIBUTES
Academics
I have taken 7 AP classes and several honors and gifted courses since the 8th grade, and received a 30 on my ACT. I am ranked 68 in my class size of 609. I also have received several academic awards throughout the years. In 8th grade, I competed in the Louisiana Science Fair, and made it all the way to state, placing second in the Plant Sciences category. When I was a freshman, I received the English I Gifted award, in which only one student out of the entire gifted program could receive. I also was awarded the French II award that same year. My senior year, for maintaining an A average throughout my 4 years of competing in sports, I received the 13-5A Academic All District Volleyball award as well as the Texas Girls Association Academic All State Volleyball Award.
Athletics
At my school,athletics require a huge chunk of time out of your day. My sport, volleyball, is 7th period, and when in season, we practice from 2 til about 5:30 pm every day. We also start practice a month before school starts, which reveals the dedication that all of the players have to the sport. My freshman year,I tried out at my high school, and made the freshman team, purely based on the fact that I showed team support when I didn't know a single person there, considering the fact that I had just moved to Texas from Louisiana. I played on JV my sophomore and junior years, being a captain my Junior year and leading my team to an undefeated district championship. This year on Varsity, my team made it to the 4th round of playoffs, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in 8 years.
Community Service
Community service has always been a huge part of my life, but it really didn't get kick started until my sophomore year where I was nominated to attend the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership seminar, where I was one out of the two students in the entire sophomore class chosen to go. This seminar changed my life, in the areas of leadership and community service. I started volunteering at a local homeless shelter, working clothing drives, getting involved with the Middle School and High School youth programs at my church, and became an officer of National Honor Society to further spread my goals. This work allowed me to receive the gold level Presidential Service Award for completing 274 service hours my junior year, and also was the only female recipient to receive the merit award for my grade.
