Maggie Walker is a place where every student is given the opportunity to truly excel in the academic world. While college decision season is stressful for everyone involved, it can also be a huge pat on the back for those who spent the past four years putting everything they have into their schoolwork, including two Maggie Walker students who were nominated for the Jefferson Scholarship at the University of Virginia, Michael Kish and Madison Kang.

The Jefferson Scholarship is a full-ride scholarship for the University of Virginia that also provides students with opportunities of foreign travel and career development, among other possibilities. In order to have a chance to win the scholarship, students must be nominated by their high school. Thousands of high schools across the world are given the chance to nominate students who have “demonstrated excellence and exceptional potential in the areas of leadership, scholarship, and citizenship.” In prior years, over two thousand nominees have been chosen to then go through a challenging process of reviews, selection, and interviews.

Clearly, it is no easy feat to not only stand out among other students at Maggie Walker, but to also stand out among the best students from schools all across the world; Kang was a semi-finalist for the scholarship program, and Kish a recipient. When asked how she handled her workload and extracurriculars throughout high school, Kang stated, “I knew at the end of the day if I couldn’t juggle it all, I’d have to cut down on my dance [practice] time. Go for the rigor as long as you know you can handle it.” Luckily for Kang, she did not have to cut down on her extracurriculars throughout her time at Maggie Walker because she eventually found an equilibrium that consisted of her dedicating time for both school and dance to the fullest extent. Kish echoed a similar sentiment of said equilibrium, stating, “In terms of a balance between academics and extracurriculars, I went pretty heavy on both. I balanced my schoolwork and extracurriculars by taking classes that I actually wanted to take and joining clubs I liked.”

“It was worth it,” Kang said, when asked about the work put into her high school journey. “Everything I have done thus far has prepared me for now and has prepared me for the future… I can’t say that if you do everything I did you would yield the same results, but I think it really takes the person to know what they are capable of and what is worth it.” Kish similarly commented, “I wouldn’t say I have many regrets about how much work I’ve put into school, because I don’t think I could have reached this point if I had put less of an emphasis on academics and particularly extracurriculars. Ultimately, the effort I put into school was definitely worth it.”

Many students at Maggie Walker would like to achieve what Kang and Kish did, but it comes with a lot of hard work. Kang noted this when asked to give advice for underclassmen hoping to follow a similar path as her. “Don’t let others at Maggie Walker influence your decisions when it comes to courses and SAT prep among other things,” she said. “If I chose to take classes because I thought, ‘Everyone else is taking them so I should too,’ I don’t think I’d get everything that I did out of my experience at Maggie Walker.” “My biggest advice to underclassmen would be to pursue opportunities that they actually care about rather than trying to craft a perfect college application,” Kish remarked similarly. “Everything you do doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, a ploy to get into an elite school or receive a scholarship. That’s not to say that leadership, service, and awards don’t help—they’re critical to getting into elite schools or receiving selective scholarships—but they don’t mean anything if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing. Having a clear idea of who you are is really helpful.”