Year after year, parents sing their kids same old song: “Work hard in high school and you might earn some scholarships for college.”
Most parents are just hoping for some help in shouldering the financial burden. Three local students gave their parents the best possible proof they were paying attention by earning National Merit Scholarships.
The college-sponsored awards not only cover tuition in full, but some offer housing, travel, research and enrichment stipends. And they”re not awarded strictly to future scientists and mathematicians, although one local recipient certainly fits that description. They simply denote excellence by whittling down 1.5 million applicants to just under 5,000 winners.
Matthew Berk, a homeschooler from Oktibbeha County, represents the breadth of students earning National Merit Scholarships. A lifelong student of his mother, Trish Berk, Matthew continues a family tradition by following his older brother, Jamen Berk, as a National Merit Scholarship winner.
Although Trish Berk earned her degree in business, both of her boys are scientists. Jamen is completing his thesis in biological sciences at Mississippi State University, while Matthew plans to pursue aerospace science at MSU.
Matthew Berk has already begun building his resume in flight sciences. A radio-controlled-plane enthusiast since the age of 10, Berk is a national rocketry champion and competed on the U.S. Rocketry Team in Spain in 2008. He”ll compete again this August in Serbia.
Berk”s interest in aeronautics was encouraged by a pair of high-level mentors. Greg Stewart, director of development at Aurora Flight Sciences, spotted Berk flying remote-control planes in Starkville and later flying gliders and offered to take Berk under his wing. The relationship led to an internship for Berk at Aurora on a project designing an unmanned aerial vehicle intended to fly around the Arctic Circle continually for five years on solar power.
Berk”s second mentor, Dr. George Bennett, former director of Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in Starkville, wrote Berk”s letter of recommendation for his National Merit Scholar application package.
The wealth of influence has inspired Berk keeping his options open as far as choosing a career and a course of study at MSU.
“I”d like to do engineering work, but I”d like to see the whole field and approach it with a wide view of structures and fluid dynamics and systems,” he said.
Peggy Buckley is in a similar situation, but on the opposite end of the creativity/science spectrum. The Heritage Academy graduate will attend Auburn next year to major in English.
Buckley has been a writer since the sixth grade. One of her works found its way into the “Anthology of Short Stories By Young Americans” when she was 13 years old.
Her mother, Ann, says when Peggy was 3 years old, she used to dictate stories and Ann would transcribe them.
Buckley will never put her pen down, but she may not write for a living.
“I”m not sure what I”ll do. I”ve thought about being a publisher or an editor, but my ultimate goal is to write a novel,” she said.
Her work on a keyboard extends beyond her computer. Buckley”s parents, Ann and Tom, placed her in piano lessons 10 years ago.
Music has given her an alternative creative outlet, but it also provided the inspiration for her required essay in her National Merit Scholar application package. Buckley watched as one of her piano teachers struggled and eventually succumbed to cancer.
“It inspired me. Even though she was so sick, she never let it put her in a bad mood,” said Buckley.
Ryan Mackay, a Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science graduate, went a different direction for his essay. His task was to describe an event in his life which influenced or shaped his attitudes. He told the story of being hassled in the gym on the Mississippi University for Women campus when a ping-pong paddle he was using broke.
“It was more funny than it was anything else,” said Mackay.
And that sums up Mackay fairly succinctly. He graduated from one of the most difficult high school curriculums in the state with an interest in physics and plans to study engineering at Brigham Young University, but he”s a normal kid.
He”s normal in the sense that he doesn”t know what he wants to do for a living or even what major to choose. His extracurriculars were mostly athletics, having served as captain of the MSMS soccer team.
Mackay”s attitude belies his academic accomplishments. Ask him about the cut on his forehead he recently suffered during a football game and he”ll tell you with a straight face that he got into a knife fight. Ask him what makes him unique and he”ll tell you he”s training to play ping-pong in the Olympics.
He chose to attend Brigham Young because that”s where his parents, Reed and Gerry, met as students. And as far as a career, he just knows he wants to avoid English and history.
What”s truly unique about Mackay is, like Berk and Buckley, hard work in high school earned him a free ride through college.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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