Limelight l Student Profiles

Limelight | Student Profiles

Emma Lee-Wirtz ’28

LOWER SCHOOL

At just 9 years old, Emma Lee-Wirtz ’28 is on her way to becoming a polyglot. The daughter of German and Korean-American parents, she speaks German at home with her dad and takes Korean classes on Saturdays. She loves her Spanish classes at Agnes Irwin, too. “Every once in a while it gets a little confusing, though,” she shared. “Sometimes I’m trying to think of a word in Spanish and it pops up in a different language in my head!”

Emma, who has been at AIS since kindergarten, “has a natural curiosity about the world around her,” her third grade teacher Anna Tobia remarked. “She asks great questions, is very internally motivated, and her desire to learn is contagious.”

In one recent assignment, Ms. Tobia asked her students to write a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice using techniques they’d learned in class. Emma, who has a passion for art and writing, chose to write about her love of art and why she thought schools should offer more art time to students. Instead of simply sharing her own opinions on the topic, Emma realized her essay would be more convincing if she had the evidence to support it — so she asked Ms. Tobia to help her find research demonstrating the importance of art education, synthesized that research, and produced an essay that included studies demonstrating how art education increases students’ self esteem, going well beyond the requirements.

Emma loves art, and wants to be an artist when she grows up, though she’s not sure what kind yet. At home she draws and paints with watercolors, and enjoys exploring mediums like textiles and clay at school as well. “I just love creating stuff,” she said.

Aside from language learning and drawing, Emma also takes ballet, plays piano, and participates in Girl Scouts and Girls on the Run. She loves to sing, dance, and hang out with her cat, Peony. She loves cats in general — and even donned a homemade leopard costume this Halloween.

One of her favorite activities is traveling. Each year, she visits her extended family in Germany, followed by a trip to somewhere else in Europe, including France, Portugal, Italy, and her personal favorite, Ireland. “I love going to new places and seeing new things,” she said. “It’s interesting to learn how other people live and how different the world is in other places.”

Emma loves to read, and is currently working her way through the Harry Potter series. Fittingly, her favorite character is the bookish Hermione, “because she’s smart, but also brave and kind. Which,” she added, “is more important than being smart.”

Henriette Schminke ’24 and Amy Schminke ’26

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sisters Amy Schminke ’26 and Henriette Schminke ’24 lived in both Virginia and Germany before coming to Agnes Irwin five years ago. The girls grew up speaking English and German, and speak exclusively German at home. At AIS, they speak English — most of the time, anyway. “One thing I’ll never forget,” Henriette recalled with a laugh, “is a time I was trying to catch up with a friend down the hall. I was waving and shouting, ‘Wait for me!’ My friend turned around looking confused — and that’s when I realized I was speaking to her in German.”

Both Amy and Henriette are engaged language learners, according to Spanish teacher Liz Ortiz ’04. Henriette has made it her goal to become fluent in Spanish, and this year as a seventh grader, submitted a piece to the Upper School’s Spanish and French language magazine, Frenish. “I just think languages are really cool and interesting,” Henriette explained. “Probably because I’ve grown up bilingual, languages come really easily to me.” One thing she especially loves is how some words don’t have an equivalent in another language, or the words carry a different nuance. “Sometimes there’s just not the right word in one language to describe what you mean — and there are also words that might say the same thing, but they don’t mean the same thing.” (One example: in Germany, kindergarten connotes a daycare environment for very young children, rather than an academic one.)

In addition to language learning, Henriette loves science, math, reading, and playing squash, lacrosse, and tennis; she’s looking forward to learning chemistry. Amy’s favorites are math, robotics, and art, because, she said, “I like to let my creativity run free — and I also love working with K’nex and figuring out how things work.”

Both Amy and Henriette are curious students, and their classmates have benefited from hearing about their experiences of German life and culture. This year in Spanish class, Amy’s group presented a comparison of two schools in Germany and Brazil, and Amy was able to share her own experiences. Henriette, history teacher Corey Willingham said, “recently helped her class (and her teacher!) understand more deeply how Germany has changed since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.”

“It’s good to learn about different places and languages because then you can understand more people and their cultures,” Henriette said. “There are certain things you may do or say in other countries that you don’t here — but you won’t know if you don’t take the time to learn.”

Saguna Malhotra ’19

UPPER SCHOOL

Saguna Malhotra ’19 has a passion for international issues that runs deep. Prior to joining AIS in ninth grade, the now-senior had already lived in three states, three countries — the U.S., India, and the Philippines — and learned three languages. Since coming to AIS, she has studied two more languages (Mandarin and French), expanded her understanding of global issues through elective courses like Middle Eastern History and Bioethics, and taken on an internship in Dubai.

Saguna has a strong interest in economics and how public policy can create social change. For her Special Studies Program junior year, Saguna interned at a private equity firm where she was tasked with teaching the staff about crowdfunding. “Technology today gives everyone the chance to be connected to what’s going on the world — and crowdfunding is a wonderful use of technology because it opens up the investment world for people that aren’t millionaires or big companies,” Saguna explained. She plans to study finance, economics, and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in hopes of using those skills to improve the world.

She tries to live, she said, by a fairly simple philosophy: “I strongly believe that when you want to see a change, you need to go out there and make it happen.”

Female empowerment and environmental sustainability are two areas where Saguna is trying to make that change. She co-heads the Council for the Advancement of Girls — which organized a student conference this spring around the theme of “Breaking The Glass Ceiling Around The World” — as well as the Upper School’s Environmental Board, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and implement sustainable initiatives on campus. “As young people, we have to start thinking about the future of the world,” she said.

Agnes Irwin, Saguna says, has helped her develop the confidence to know that she can make a difference — and decide how to make that difference. “One of the things I love most about AIS is that each girl is able to pursue what she loves — and if she doesn’t know what she loves, to find her niche,” Saguna said. “The curriculum, clubs, and community all really support that — but at the same time, don’t limit us to just one area of interest.” She’s loved having the opportunity to research varying perspectives on scientific ethics through Bioethics, explore the complexities of identity in French V Honors, and develop a real-life business in Economics.

Through introducing her to new interests and giving her the space to explore them, “Agnes Irwin does a great job of fostering leadership within every girl — and enabling her to be the truest form of herself,” Saguna said. “My parents always laugh when I say that I love going to school, but why wouldn’t I? Agnes Irwin gave me 68 sisters and I think each one of them is unique and wonderful in their own way. I am truly grateful that I get to learn so much from them every day and watch them grow into amazing young women.”

International Student Program

MIDDLE & UPPER SCHOOL

For any student, choosing the right school is a big deal. It’s a decision with far-reaching consequences — affecting the subjects they’ll study, the friends they’ll make, the way they’re taught, the perspectives they’ll hear, and — for some students — the country they’ll live in.

That’s the case for the nine Agnes Irwin students who attend AIS through our international student program. The program, which AIS has offered for about seven years, enables international students to experience life at an American high school while living with host families — some of them also Agnes Irwin families or staff — that provide a “home away from home.”

More than a dozen students from China have attended Agnes Irwin through the program since it began, and they meet regularly with teacher and counselor Kim Beamon, who serves as the school’s international student liaison. While some students have experienced other schools in the U.S., or boarding schools in China, for others, Beamon says, American school is a completely new experience. “My job is to support them and their adjustment to a new culture, country, and school community,” she explained.

Gioanna Zhao ’22, who is from Guangzhou, China, joined Agnes Irwin this year as a ninth grader. She loves the freedom that comes from an all-girls’ environment, and appreciates the extent to which her teachers care about her both as a student and personally — and how both they, and her peers, are truly interested in hearing about her life in China and transition to life in the United States. Gioanna immediately dove headfirst into student life at AIS, joining both the tennis and crew teams — and next year, she’ll serve as class representative after being elected by her classmates this spring. “I love this community and I want to be involved,” she said. “I want to truly be an Agnes Irwin girl.”

Pictured, from left:

Sofia Yang ’21, Kate Chen ’20, Kathy Chen ’22, Gioanna Zhao ’22, Bonny Wang ’23, Momo Zhu ’23

Not pictured:

Scarlett Deng ’20, Carrie Shu ’20, Chelsea Chen ’21