Interview with a Minervan! #20meets21

Last May, I got a chance to schedule an interview with one of the Minerva Class of 2020 students and talk more about myself!

The following post was written by Dana, Class of 2020, as part of Minerva School's series introducing members of the Class of 2021: #20meets21.

Meet Madison, a member of the Class of 2021.

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A truly self-made person is hard to find, but Madison may be just that. Over the last few years, she has worked consistently to discover who she is, aside from just a high school student, and her effort has helped her progress as a creator and collaborator.

Madison was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and didn’t have much experience with outside culture until four years ago. She realized that YouTube videos were the ultimate resource for learning about culture at her own pace, from her home. “I think I just didn’t sleep after 11:30 pm for four straight years, [because I would] watch YouTube videos in the middle of the night,” she told me. For Madison, YouTube was a window to the rest of the world; she used it to teach herself about culture and develop English language fluency.

Soon, her dedication to personal growth had her itching to travel. “I keep this small notebook where I write down everything I want to do, and almost every day I write one or two things in it,” she said. “Most of those goals involve travel.” After she finished the college application cycle, Madison decided to pursue those goals. She didn’t want to waste any time just because she was a high school student, so she began looking for opportunities to learn more about her interests: marketing, music, fashion, science, sustainability, and collaboration.

A major marketing conference in California caught her eye. It only officially accepted well-known CEOs and marketing directors, which didn’t dissuade Madison. She emailed the coordinators and pitched herself so she could attend the conference, and they admired her ambition. They offered her a free ticket with a price tag upwards of $2,000 ー “The CEOs were all paying that money, and I went for free as a high school student with no experience!”

She may have had little marketing experience then, but Madison has been participating in projects in a wide array of fields over the last year and expanding her skill set. For example, she was in New York in May to present work she did with the Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences, a program which selects 250 students, splits them into about 40 teams, and gives them several months to come up with a prototype to solve a problem. Madison captained a team made up of six students from six different time zones. All of their collaboration on renewable energy sources was done online. “We couldn’t actually make our prototype because those chemicals are so toxic we’d be risking our lives, but theoretically we designed a solar paint that would effectively gather solar energy and convert it to electricity,” she explained. Madison and her team presented their work to an audience that included nine Nobel Laureates.

Madison thrives when collaborating on creative projects like this. She’s already working with another student in the Class of 2021 on producing an album, and she’ll be back in New York in September to work with designers on a show during New York Fashion Week. “I want to experience everything that I possibly can,” she told me. “I love the fact that I am actually executing projects to realize my creative intelligence and pursue that value in my career.” In the collaborative environment of the Minerva community, Madison will find herself with immense opportunity to continue her self-actualization, and I’m excited to see what she creates with the rest of the Class of 2021!