Honors Application Process

Education is not just about gaining information to excel inside the classroom, but also about providing those being educated the opportunity to thrive as leaders within their communities.

When I think about education and its importance to me, I envision the experiences one can gain and the perspectives one can learn from inside the classroom. These perspectives create opinions and actions that can make one an upstanding member of society. Which is why the process of learning takes time and has no set end date. There is this misconception that education stops when the piece of paper is handed to you at graduation, but it instead continues with the aging process. We are curious and insist on seeking out further knowledge to answer minor questions in the moment, to the most philosophically challenging questions that put our existence into perspective. It takes one who truly cares to ask questions and seek out the answers to the problems around them, and this is why I believe education can equip us with knowledge and responsibility.

I believe it is a responsibility of mine to share my knowledge with others instead of just letting it pile up in my brain. This new knowledge could end up shaping the world or stop an unintentional ignorant action from causing harm to our planet or humanity. Education is a two-way street: the knowledge presented to you deserves to be shared from you to future generations of individuals seeking out the curiosities and knowledge similar to yours.

Leadership Positions

• Royal High Student Government: representative (9^th grade), secretary (10^th – 11^th grade), treasurer (12^th grade). Served as the voice of my cohort and represented their concerns, requests and ideas with fairness and equality. This taught me how to represent others accurately.
• Royal High Debate Team Leader: 12^th Led my team to victory at districts, and third place at States. This taught me how to win, lose, and console my team when they were upset.
• Basketball Varsity team captain: 12^th Under the guidance of our new coach, I helped bring my team to a 8-3 record. For the first time in three years, our team made district playoffs.
• Shadow Dr. Jones (2x a month/5 hours) – Geisinger ER: 11^th – 12^th Under Dr, Jones’ guidance, I learned about patient triage, bedside manner, and what it means to be a doctor—something I plan on pursuing in the Honors Program at Wilkes. I have recently applied for a position at Geisinger as a Patient Care Advocate, and hope to begin working in my field this spring.
• Northeastern PA Future Business Leaders (month long program): 10^th - 12^th grade. In this voluntary leadership course, I enrolled alongside other future leaders in Northeast PA to learn about project management, leadership, and management. I plan to use this knowledge as a future doctor and Honors student across campus.
• Young Scholar at Wilkes University: 10^th grade-12^th I began classes in the summer of 10^th grade (2 courses) at 16 years old, and continued throughout my high school career with one class per semester during the school year, and two classes per summer for a total of eight college courses and an overall GPA of 3.89.

Community Service:

• Patricks’ Soup Kitchen: 9^th – 12^th grade. I served soup and bread to homeless people within the Scranton city areas. I did this five times a year, on Saturdays from 3pm-6pm.
• Patricks’ Altar Server: 3^rd – 12^th grade. I served at regular Sunday masses throughout these years, as well as special occasions such as Easter Vigil, Christmas Eve, and Ash Wednesday.
• Patricks’ Summer Festival volunteer: 9^th – 11^th grade. This is a three day event every year. I organized games, ran the food stand, and served as cashier each year.
• Patricks’ Bible School volunteer: 9^th – 12^th grade. I ran the games for the children, planned and organized snacks, and helped the teachers with classroom management. Bible school runs for a week every summer, three hours a day.
• Referee for MYBL youth basketball league: 9^th – 12^th I refereed for the league every weekend for four years, usually four hour-long games a week.
• Student tour guide at Back to School night: 9^th – 12^th In this role, I led students and their parents across the high school, showing them where their homeroom, locker, and classes were.
• Volunteer at V.A. hospital (1x a week/5hrs): 11^th – 12^th In this position, I interacted with veterans who were in the V.A. hospital for Alzheimer’s and Dementia. I learned patient care for those who are unable to speak for themselves, and how to advocate for those who need us.

Activities:

• Royal High Basketball Team (practice 5x/week and eleven regular games/year): 9^th – 12^th grade
• Royal High Debate Team (practice 1x a week and two debates/year): 9^th – 12^th grade
• Royal High Orchestra (practice 2x/week and two concerts/year): 9^th – 12^th grade
• Violin lessons (1x/week): 7^th – 12^th grade
• Fast food worker at Arby’s (12 hours/week): 10^th – 12^th grade