The AT student body is very competitive. Have you ever wondered what it’s like being at the top of your class?
Lea Staller is currently number one in her class. She has taken thirteen AP courses throughout her high school career and has participated in many extracurricular activities while balancing school work and personal hardships.
Any AT student knows that being on top of your class is not an easy accomplishment. Taking honors classes is hard but juggling multiple AP classes is even harder.
“My junior year was the hardest; I took seven AP classes and all seven tests,” said Lea Staller. Lea received college credit for all the AP tests she took in her junior year.
Like any student, Lea has endured hardships that have given her minor setbacks but has found a way to always return from them. “It was not easy getting to the top of my class. It took a lot of hard work, which I am very proud to have accomplished. As the year progressed (junior year), the workload got harder to manage, primarily due to the outside personal circumstances that year, which I would prefer not to get into. Despite the challenges, I persisted and managed to keep on track and achieve my goal of keeping straight A grades throughout my high school career,” Staller continued.
Outside of classwork, Lea has participated in my extracurriculars throughout her high school career. ”I participate in theater here at Addison Trail, along with Shades of Blue, the National Honor Society, the Tri-M Music Honor Society, and four leadership boards. I am the president of the Choir Board, Sergeant at Arms of the Tri-M Board, and I participate in both the Principal Student Advisory Board and the District Superintendent Student Advisory Board,” Lea added.
Lea’s teachers admire her for all of her hard work of dedication that she puts into her school work. “Through Lea’s four years here at Addison Trail, she has been the epitome of an exemplary student, work ethic, and academic achievement. While maintaining excellent grades, she’s also been involved in many things including theater,” said Jeffery Nellesen, Choir Teacher.
A lot of Lea’s friends admire her for her work ethic and her drive.“Lea possesses so much drive and puts forth immense dedication to anything she puts her mind to. her work ethic is like no other. from the day we met, she has always been on top of her game. lea works harder than anyone else I’ve had the pleasure of befriending. she is a truly remarkable person and im grateful to have met when we were little freshmen,“ explained senior, Annie Olsen.
This year, Lea received the District 88 Best in Academics award for August. In Lea’s words, “Having all these responsibilities can be overwhelming at times, especially when they start piling on top of each other. Still, instead of letting it consume me, I take one thing at a time and use my time management skills to persist.”
With all the big goals for high school, Lea Staller had and accomplished, she has even bigger goals for life after high school. After high school, she plans to attend college to study aerospace engineering as her major and eventually master’s.
Lea shares how it is okay not to have everything figured out just yet,”My love of the arts is a vital factor in my life, and to keep the arts in my curriculum, I may minor in music or theater, but that is not official yet.”
Lea has yet to decide where she wants to take her talents, but she is applying to plenty of prestigious options across the Northeast United States. ”Some of the schools I am applying to are Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and more,” concluded Lea Staller.
It is important to highlight astounding people like Lea Staller to broadcast that realistically, it is possible to juggle different extracurriculars and maintain a “Straight A” status with hard work and determination.
