Simone Steinberg Selects a University that Fits All Her Dreams

Simone Steinberg is incredibly relieved to know exactly what she will be doing for the next four years.

The recent Belmont High School graduate will be attending McGill University in Montreal and studying international development.

“That’s a broad major,” she said. “For me it means I can focus on environmental stewardship and learn how countries, especially in the developing world, can work together on ecological sustainability.”

Steinberg only applied to schools that offered this program of study and McGill was her first choice for a number of reasons: She wanted to be in a city and somewhere international; she speaks French fluently and is half French; and her sister, Gabrielle, will be a senior there in the fall.

In addition, Steinberg was a member of the BHS varsity ice hockey team for four years and being in Montreal will provide opportunities for her to continue playing on an intramural level.

So the near future looks bright for her plan to eventually have a career working toward finding solutions for environmental sustainability worldwide, especially in the developing world.

What lies ahead in uncertain

What does worry Steinberg these days is whether or not she’ll have opportunities for employment or even be able to attend graduate school in four years when she finishes her degree at McGill.

“My sister is a junior right now, not totally sure of what she will do in a year, and I’ve seen recent college graduates who don’t have any opportunities to work or study more,” she said. “My biggest fear is that I won’t have options to do what I want when I graduate in 2015.”

There are a lot of unknowns, Steinberg explained.

“My college process was so planned and I’m secure in having a direction for the next four years,” she said. “I’m a bit concerned about what will happen when my studies are finished.”

But, Steinberg said, the area she wants to pursue as a career might very well allow her to volunteer for the Peace Corp or a similar organization.

If all goes well, she would like to pursue graduate studies in either public health or even nursing so she’ll be able to combine knowledge of health issues and an education in the environment to then work with developing nations.

Steinberg began her studies at the International School of Boston until fourth grade where she learned enough French, in addition to speaking the language at home with her mother, to become fluent.

From there, she went to the Chenery Middle School. It was while as a student there that she knew, even at such an early age, that her career would involve some sort of social work.

“Things just evolved from there,” she said.

Travel helped clarify career goals

Steinberg said taking Advanced Placement environmental science this year gave her tremendous insight into the importance of the topic. She said the teacher of the course, Carolyn Brownsberger, was excellent and she learned more than she anticipated.

“The material was so current and there was a lot I didn’t know until this year that made me realize this is a big deal,” Steinberg said.

Perhaps what solidified Steinberg’s interest the most in international development was the opportunity she had to travel to other parts of the world during her high school years where she participated in social and environmental projects.

During her freshman year, she was in the Ukraine where she helped run a day camp in a school.

Last summer, she went to Nicaragua with Amigos de las Americans and participated in a project in an extremely rural mountain area.

The summer before, Steinberg was in Israel with Young Judea, working in a school for students with special needs and performing other community service such as cooking meals for needy people.

The trip was combined with travel as well which helped Steinberg realize that wasn’t precisely the kind of service she wanted to perform in her career.

“I knew I wanted to be less of a tourist and more part of the community,” she said. “That’s the only way you can make any kind of difference.”

Glad high school is over

Steinberg feels she received a good academic education at the high school and, of everything she did during her years there, loved being a member of the ice hockey team the most for which she served as captain this year.

“That was the best thing about going to the school,” she said. “The girls on the team were wonderful, particularly this year when we made it to the state tournament for the first time in seven years, along with the staff – Coach Mark Haley and Assistant Coaches Nick and Rebecca Sama and Bob Shea.”

Steinberg also appreciated the district’s foreign language program through which she studied Spanish and is now fluent in it as well as French and took Latin from sixth grade until her junior year.

She has mixed feelings about some of her other experiences at the high school, particularly her foray into politics as class president her sophomore and junior years.

She was extremely disappointed in what she perceived as a sense of apathy around her for making changes and improvements.

“In many ways, Belmont High School was a difficult place for me,” she said. “I think the feeling on the part of the administration was appreciation when students do what is expected of them and do not push for change.”

After a while, Steinberg said the lack of enthusiasm she thought was happening and that any innovative requests on her part would be denied led to her disillusion.

“By senior year, I didn’t even try to continue participating in some of the things I’m passionate about,” she said. “It was draining to have my enthusiasm doused.”

Steinberg felt forced to rely on herself that she now thinks was probably good for her but lonely at the time.

If she has any advice for others still attending the high school, it comes from that experience.

“There are worthwhile opportunities at Belmont High School through studies and clubs but you have to make it happen by yourself,” Steinberg said.