2007 Gateway Young Achievers

Madeline Johnson continues busy pace
in high school

Madeline Johnson of Wildwood, Mo., set a fast and productive pace during her middle school years. That schedule of accomplishment won her a 2007 Gateway Young Achiever award.

The 15-year-old is off on the same sort of multi-faceted schedule now she's a freshman at Lafayette High School in western St. Louis County.

Madeline Johnson

Madeline said her academic workload is "significantly greater" but there's "more freedom." She still finds time to get involved in sports, community and church outreach.

"Although," she admits, "I do sometimes look up after finishing my last homework and find that it's midnight."

She said her work last year served as good preparation for high school. "In middle school, my teachers stressed the need for taking responsibility and urged us to stay involved," she said.

For instance, she was a member of the Rockwood Valley Middle School's student council for all three years at that school. That included being vice president as a 7th grader and president last year.

She's already involved in the student council at Lafayette HS.

In sports, she was active in basketball and volleyball in middle school. In volleyball, she played for the Rockwood Thunder. That select team traveled to tournaments in the Midwest.

It also earned her a chance to play for the Lafayette freshman volleyball team. She practices five days a week for two hours after school and also plays in league games.

As soon as volleyball ends, Madeline will join the school's basketball team. She was a member of the Future Lady Lancers basketball team during middle school. That club was a "feeder" team helping to prepare girls for continuing basketball in high school.

Madeline speaking at 8th grade graduation

Selection for the team involved multiple tryouts. She termed the competition "awesome."

Madeline earned a 4.0 grade point averages all three years in middle school.

Her academic accomplishments earned her the opportunity to be the keynote speaker for the 8th grade graduation ceremony.

(Young SaintLouis.com has covered the Gateway Young Achievers program for several years. Last May, YSL.com ran an article that named the 2007 winners. Then, starting in June, 2007, we have run individual profiles of elementary and middle school winners.

(If you'd like to read previous coverage, click on Past Stories off the home page and go to the June, July, August, September and October editions for the individual profiles.)

Madeline's Young Achiever award earned her the school's Excalibur award during 8th grade. The award is given to students showing effort, participation and dedication.

She also won the award in 6th and 7th grades. In 7th grade, it was for physical education.

In 6th grade it was for Theater Arts. She was in two school plays, "Tom and Huck" and "Lockers." The first play was about Mark Twain's dynamic duo while "Lockers" was a variety show about life in middle school.

Madeline said her "own personal favorite activity" in middle school was student council. Kids worked on various fund-raising drives and helped with school activity nights. One of the fundraisers was the "Penny War for Katrina," raising money for hurricane victims.

Another activity was the RVMS Ambassadors. These selected students helped orient new students to the Rockwood Valley Middle School. She said the Ambassadors "hang out for about a week" with new 6th grade students at the start of the school year.

When a new student came in during the year, the Ambassadors also helped orient them.

In 8th grade, she also was a mentor to 6th graders. "We'd meet with the younger kids about 15 minutes in the mornings to answer any questions they had," Madeline said.

She also volunteered for a month each summer for a Mothers' Morning Out program. The volunteers give mothers some free time by babysitting their kids.

Last year, during her confirmation at church, she helped with 5th graders during Sunday School classes.

Madeline also helped with food and gift collections at church and school.

She said she's just starting to think about college and a career. "Of course, the $1,000 bond I got for the Young Achiever award is nice," she said.

She said her favorite class is language arts. "I like to speak and write a lot," she said. She's thinking about a career in either journalism or law but isn't sure just yet.