ACADEMICS
FINDING T HE RIGHT
COLLEGE FIT Students are matched with their college counselor at the beginning of freshman year and stay with the same counselor throughout their high school career. Four seniors share their experience with the program and how it helped them find the right college fit. Interview by Tiffany Townsend Director of Marketing & Communications
Mae Mae Wallace What are some of the activities/ c l u b s /s p o r t s y o u’ v e b e e n involved in at Ensworth? I have participated in soccer, lacrosse, and tennis, as well as the Tearing Down the Walls club and the Math competition team. I was also a co-director of K ids Academy, worked on the committee for Dance Marathon, and attended the school’s summer trip to China in 2017. What lessons or experiences from the last two months of school do you think will benefit you in the future? I think the most important thing I have learned is that face-to-face interaction is not only essential to learning but essential to life. The time this spring without my teachers and classmates left me feeling unmotivated and discouraged. However, I am now even more thankful for the close relationships I have built during my time at Ensworth. Talk about your college counseling process—what were some of your main criteria in your college search? How did your college counselor help guide you through the process? Going into senior year, I had no idea where I wanted to go to college. I had toured almost 20 colleges but still wasn’t sure which ones were my favorites. My college counselor did a great job talking through my college visits with me and helping me articulate what I liked about each school I had seen. She 12 | ENSWORTH ENSIGHTS
Duke University was able to inform me about which schools had what I was looking for academically, and she was able to suggest schools she thought I would like. What were your top choices, and what led you to ultimately choose Duke? My top choices included Duke, University of Virginia, Princeton, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Yale, and Vanderbilt. Duke ended up being my first choice because it is the perfect balance of what I was looking for in a school. It is medium-sized and academically challenging while still having great school spirit and a fun sports culture. It has small classes, impressive research and study-abroad opportunities, a diverse student body, and an ideal location. Finally, Duke is exceptionally strong in my main academic interests of global health and social justice. In what ways do you feel like your Ensworth experience has best prepared you for college? Ensworth has taught me the importance of hard work, resilience, and community. Ensworth creates an environment in which teachers are passionate about teaching, and in turn, students become passionate about learning. Most important, Ensworth’s Harkness method has taught me the value in collaboration, working with others, and achieving greatness together rather than individually. Finish this sentence/thought: Ensworth is… a community that fosters collaboration, a love for learning, and a drive to better the world.
