Recent News

Foundation for SPS Presents, Profiles In Success: Anna Leonard, Glendale High School

February 17, 2012

Transition is a familiar thing to Glendale High School senior Anna Leonard. After wrapping up eighth grade in Rogersville, her family moved to Springfield. She started at Glendale as freshman. Now, as a senior, Anna is preparing for another transition, moving to attend another school. This time she will be heading off to Boston to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anna Leonard A fall visit to MIT laid the groundwork for her transition. A swimmer at Glendale, Anna will be part of the swim team at MIT. During her visit, she met with the swim coach and stayed with one of her future teammates.

“It will be nice to go there and have that group of friends so I’m not so alone,” Anna said. “I don’t know anyone in Boston.”

Helping incoming students transition to a new community is something Anna has some familiarity with as president of the Student To Student organization at Glendale.
Student To Student pairs new students and students moving in during the course of the year with current Glendale students. New students get a one-on-one orientation to life at Glendale. If new students have questions, they have someone they feel comfortable asking.

“Since I was new my freshman year, I wanted to get involved with the group,” Anna said. “I can tell that once you get to talking to [the new students], they get more comfortable. You make a point to stop and talk to them. I can see them getting more comfortable with being here.”

As a Glendale student, science and math courses have been among Anna’s favorite. In fact, her passion for the sciences led her to MIT. “I always wanted to go to MIT,” she said. “I really want to continue studying math and science, and in my eyes that’s the best place to do that. I’m thankful I got in.”

At MIT, Anna plans to study chemistry, a useful base of knowledge in case she opts for medical school or chooses another path after graduation. She credits one of her teachers for helping to foster her love for chemistry.
“I really loved my advanced chemistry class with Mr. [Fred] Fotsch,” Anna said. “He’s more interested that you’re interested in learning, rather than just giving out homework. He uses a different kind of instruction, using lots of experiments and hands on that makes it fun and engaging.”

Spanish classes have also been among Anna’s favorite during her time at Glendale. She is also president of the Foreign Language Club, which offers students a variety of enjoyable multicultural experiences.

Anna recently learned that she is a National Merit Scholarship finalist. “I took the SAT in the fall,” she said. “Then you have to fill out an essay and get a teacher recommendation. Right now, it’s just recognition. I find out in a month or so if I get the actual scholarship, which would be awesome because MIT doesn’t do academic or athletic scholarships.”

Scholarship or not, Anna is excited to make the transition to college, and can credit her experience at Glendale for helping her get ready to embark on an exciting new phase of her life.