Prince George's Student Wins Scholarship After Public Health Work

UPPER MARLBORO, MD — Upper Marlboro high schooler Lindsay Smith won a $1,000 scholarship recognizing her work in public health, a spokesperson announced Thursday. She was one of 10 recipients out of nearly 800 applicants.

The award comes from the National Society of High School Scholars. It honors STEAM students, or those in science/medicine, technology, engineering, arts or mathematics.

Smith realized her connection with public health during the summer of her freshman year. That's when she attended a weeklong seminar at Georgetown University called the Leadership Initiatives Advanced Medicine and Public Health Summit.

While there, the Prince George's County native studied the top five diseases in Nigeria and learned CPR. She capped off the experience by diagnosing a patient at a partner hospital in Nigeria through virtual reality technology.

In her sophomore year, Smith was accepted into the W. E. B. Dubois Accelerated Learning academy: medical 1 track. The scholar spent three weekends at Princeton University learning about advanced biology, pharmacology and genome technology.

The press release did not mention Smith's current school, grade level or dream college. It did note, however, that she plans to major in public health. Smith hopes to be a health care consultant and potentially a primary care physician as well.

The National Society of High School Scholars is an international honors organization that offers benefits to top students. More information on the group is available at nshss.org.

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