Now that DeKalb County seniors are graduating, the class of 2016 is ready for college, jobs or whatever comes next. Some are headed to Wesleyan University, MIT and other prestigious institutions out of state. Others are staying closer to home, attending Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. The graduates featured here have worked hard to achieve academic success. Their academic experience and advice offers a blueprint for younger students. (In some cases, responses were edited for length)
Parul Rai
School system: DeKalb County Schools
High School: Dunwoody High School
Extracurricular activities: Math Team (Captain), Mu Alpha Theta (President), Cross Country, Piano, Violin, Dance
College: The University of Texas at Dallas (Honors College)
Intended major: Neuroscience
What is the best advice you got about succeeding?
Confidence is key. You don’t have to know what you’re talking about. Just make it look like you do, and you’re already halfway there. No matter how great or ingenious your idea may be, presenting it with the right attitude is what bring others on board with it.
What advice would you give to a freshman?
To become a master at something, it takes practice and effort. Initially, learning something new and unfamiliar may seem difficult or demotivating. However, no matter how “impossible” something may seem, it takes a practice to cross a bridge between learning something unfamiliar from the first time and making it second-nature. Once that bridge is crossed, you feel the desire to keep working at it again and again to prove to yourself that you truly can do it. It’s truly amazing how much you can do once you stretch your boundaries. Whether it’s in playing Lizst’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on the piano or understanding quantum physics, nothing is too hard, and never let anyone tell you that it is. Once you truly set your mind to doing something, the only person stopping you is yourself.
Jennifer Luong
School System: DeKalb County
High School: Towers High School
Extracurricular activities: College AIM (Achievement. Inspiration. Moxie) and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America)
College: Wesleyan University
Intended Major: Biology
What is the best advice you got about succeeding? I was introduced to a quote by Virgil Thomson, "Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not." It taught me to be adventurous and be open-minded about everything around me.
What advice would you give to a freshman? Freshmans, remember to build yourself a stable foundation academically before anything else. It is crucial for you to put academics first and extracurricular activities aside as you continue to conquer the next three years of high school. Colleges do look at your amazing extracurricular activities, but grades do come first. You will be rewarded in the end for your work ethics and outstanding accomplishments. By all means, take school seriously!
Sarajane Crawford
School system: Dekalb Country
High School: Druid Hills
Extracurricular activities: Varsity soccer, Varsity cross country, National Honor Society, National Beta Club
College: Georgia Institute of Technology
Intended major: Aerospace engineering
What is the best advice you got about succeeding?
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default." - J.K. Rowling
What advice would you give to a freshman?
Mental health should come before grades, but don’t use that to justify not applying effort into school. Focus on what you have accomplished over what stands in your way.
Kamal Hughes
School system: DeKalb County School District
High School: Lithonia High School
Extracurricular activities: He is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, the Sergeant-at-Arms for the Technology Student Association, a two year member of the National BETA Club, and the current President of the National Honor Society
College: Georgia State University
Intended major: Psychology
What is the best advice you got about succeeding?
Everything in life starts with you first, you can achieve the impossible.
What advice would you give to a freshman?
Stay focused and work hard now so that you don’t have to work hard later.
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