Huron High School senior Heemyung Hwang earns Siemens Award for Advanced Placement
Heemyung Hwang is one of eight Huron High School students who aced the ACT exam.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
A lifelong love of reading and year-round education are two reasons Huron High School senior Heemyung Hwang does so well on standardized tests.
Hwang, who didn’t pay for test prep courses, was one of eight Huron students to score a perfect 36 on the ACT in 2010. She then scored 2,350 out of a possible 2,400 on the SAT.
And last month Hwang was awarded a $2,000 scholarship as the female winner of the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. The award honors two students in each state for having the most and the highest advanced placement exam scores in science and math courses. Sandeep Palepu of Novi High School was the male winner in Michigan.
Hwang will enter her freshman year of college with college credits after taking nine AP exams.
"I was always reading as a little girl, and even when I read now it's not always something I'm doing for school," Hwang said. "I do it for me."
She's already been admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is waiting to hear back from Harvard.
"One of the best parts of being in school is seeing the people around you and trying to raise yourself to their level," Hwang said. "I want to continue being surrounded by other students who are just as passionate."
Hwang said summer courses also helped her succeed. As a Time magazine piece last year, "The Case Against Summer Vacation," explained, “The problem of summer vacation … compounds year after year," as some students continue learning while others stop. "What starts as a hiccup in a 6-year-old's education can be a crisis by the time that child reaches high school."
Hwang often attended math camps during summer vacation. It wasn't the math she'd use in school or on a standardized test, sure, but she was learning while some classmates were falling behind. It was the culture of learning, and not the culture of test prep, that led to Hwang's success.
James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.
Comments
DBH
Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:13 a.m.
No comments on this story after almost 12 hours? Perhaps everyone is speechless! Congratulations to this young woman on her outstanding accomplishments to date! I, for one, wish you the best in your collegiate career at whatever university is fortunate to have you as a student.