Whiz Kid: Alice Martino

Whiz Kid’s Age: 18

Whiz Kid’s School:  Maine South High School

Whiz Kid’s Accomplishment: Alice Martino recently graduated from Maine South as one of eight Maine Scholars--the school’s equivalent to valedictorian--from a class of more than 600 students. The scholars make up the top 1 percent of the graduating class.

She was one of four scholars to speak at the graduation ceremony.  Additionally, Martino was one of 20 students selected out of several hundred applicants to receive a scholarship from the Maine South Mothers’ Club.

This fall, she will be attending St. Louis University, where she was accepted into the pre-medical studies program, which she applied for during her sophomore year in high school.

Whiz Kid’s Key to Awesomeness: While she has long been interested in medicine (The Body Book was one of her favorite books as a child), she discovered another interest—Mandarin Chinese—her freshman year.

“I like how the language sounds and how they tie in aspects of the culture into their writing,” Martino said. She plans to continue studying the language in college.

Extracurricular-wise, Martino has fond memories from her involvement in Maine South’s speech club, which a friend persuaded her to join when she was a freshman. As someone who wasn’t into talking in front of others, Martino came to enjoy the challenge of impromptu, a format where students are given a quote and have two to three minutes to come up with a six-minute speech.

Outside of school Martino and a friend have directed the teen choir at Mary, Seat of Wisdom, a Catholic church in Park Ridge, for the past two years. Martino attended grade school there.

While overseeing the choir Martino and her friend were responsible for choosing the music for mass and managing practice sessions.

“We tried to have upbeat and more modern music than traditional church music,” Martino said.