Mandy Liao is a True Student Athlete

[Editor's note: The following was provided by Malden High School.]

Whiz Kid's Name: Mandy Liao

Whiz Kid's Grade: Senior

Whiz Kid's School: Malden High School

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Excellence in balancing academics and athletics.

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: As the first female wrestler to ever win a match for Malden High School, Mandy Liao knows a lot about stepping outside her comfort zone. As she pushes toward college and a career in Environmental Science, her determination to challenge herself has been proven and cultivated in her MMSI Advanced Placement classes.

“When I first walked into Malden High, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. It was just another day of school, just trying to get by,” says Mandy, a senior, “I’ve grown up a lot since then, and now I realize what I want to do and what I need to do to get there.”

What Mandy wants to do is to become an environmentalist—something she realized in her AP Environmental Science class as a junior.

“I always really liked nature. Last year I took AP Environmental Science, and it opened doors to me. Before I knew that climate change was a problem, but now I know that there are many smaller problems to be solved to address it. I want to work on those problems.”

The road to her chosen profession will include becoming the first member of her family to graduate from college and goes through rigorous math courses, a struggle for Mandy.

“I’ve never been particularly good at math, but I realize that I need to take it in order to have a career in Environmental Science,” she says, “I was taking the lowest level math course sophomore year, and now I’m taking AP courses. It’s not about getting the best grade for me, but about really understanding the material, working hard on my own and spending extra time with my teacher to get help when I don’t understand something.”

Captain of Malden’s field hockey and lacrosse teams in addition to breaking new ground as a wrestler, Mandy is clearly a student leader. But she insists she’s not unique among her classmates in her desire to take and do well in rigorous courses.

“Our school is really good academically. All my friends work really hard, and so many people are taking AP classes – it’s now the norm. We push each other to higher level thinking and we challenge each other,” Mandy notes.

With several math and science APs under her belt, Mandy’s sights are set on college, and she’s prepared.

“Colleges want to see that you challenge yourself and apply yourself. Having the opportunity to take so many math and science AP courses has helped me show that I can handle the work,” Mandy shares.

We’re pretty sure that Mandy Liao can handle anything.