on the ball>>olivia jones
College will be a new experience for Olivia Jones, but one thing will stay the same: her considerable success in sports. The Ladue Horton Watkins senior has been awarded a full-ride softball scholarship to Cleveland State University, a Division 1 program. A fixture on the field for the past 11 years, Jones has ranked as a high school all-conference player for three of the past four seasons—excluding only junior year, when she took a break from playing. She says the university has been interested in her since sophomore year, when recruiting staff came to see her in action on the field. “They asked me to come for a visit, and later offered me a spot on the team,” says the 17-year-old infielder.
Jones also has distinguished herself as a member of a local select team, the St. Louis Prospects. It has taken her to tournaments in Nevada, California, Florida and other states. “We came in fifth at nationals this past year,” she says. “We’ve placed as high as second in the past, among 150 teams. Being involved in softball has taught me a lot about perseverance, building relationships and being a leader.”
Jones enjoys pushing herself for success on the lacrosse field, too. “I started playing as a freshman,” she notes. “It’s something a little different when I need to get my mind away from softball.” She hopes to study criminology or interior design at Cleveland State.
future doc>>lydia fulton
Lydia Fulton wants to help area students discover the joys of medicine and science. For a recent Girl Scout Gold Award project, the Rosati-Kain junior spent two years planning a day-long educational event for about 25 elementary and high school girls. Its aim was to spark their interest in health science careers, she says.
The event took place Jan. 2 at the office of St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation. Titled ‘Doctor Who? Doctor You!’, the program included learning activities for different age groups, including crafts illustrating human anatomy and a demonstration on extracting DNA from a strawberry. “We had experiments the students could participate in, and a presentation on the adverse effects of smoking. And they gave back by bringing stuffed animals to donate to Children’s Hospital patients,” Fulton says.
She pulled off the event with help from Rosati-Kain faculty and volunteers, and used materials donated by Washington University. She also raised money for the event by babysitting. “My favorite thing about the project was how empowering it was,” says Fulton, 18. “I got such positive feedback from the students. Some of the older girls said they hadn’t thought about careers in medicine or science, but this event made them want to explore it further. That was exactly what I was hoping for.” Fulton says she plans to attend medical school, and is currently looking at colleges for an undergraduate degree in biology.
talk to … lucy warren
Whitfield School junior Lucy Warren, 16, doesn’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. She’s been gaining a reputation for leadership in academics, the arts and other extracurricular activities. Warren has been busy reviving the school’s Model United Nations program, writing and performing music for Whitfield’s variety show, acting in plays and using her language skills to welcome foreign students. “Lucy is an outstanding school citizen who leads with her words and follows them with positive action,” says Becky Marsh, Whitfield’s director of communications and marketing.
Describe your involvement with the Model United Nations project.
There used to be a Model U.N. program at Whitfield, but it wasn’t active anymore, so I did some research and talked to my history teacher about bringing it back. We have more than 30 people participating this year, and we hope to get more. This trimester we’re going to do a mock session at Whitfield, and we plan to participate in Model U.N. sessions in other cities, such as Chicago.
What fine arts and language interests do you have?
I started writing music when I got a guitar in seventh grade, and I have a collection of songs. I wrote one for our variety show this year, and performed it on piano. And I love acting; I was in a student-directed, one-act play called Sleep at Whitfield, and am auditioning for the role of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. I also am studying Mandarin Chinese. We have some foreign exchange students here, so I recently was asked to give a morning assembly presentation in Mandarin. It was about the Chinese New Year and cultural traditions.
What does your future look like?
I want to study political science and economics in college. I’m looking at universities like Northwestern, MIT, UCLA and UC-Berkeley. My goal is to go
into politics.
