Newton North Scholar Emma Klein Wins Award

NEWTON, MA — Emma Klein realized early in her academic life that it is more important to her to learn as much as possible about every subject she studies than learn just enough to complete an assigned task. When it comes to research papers, the recent Newton North High School graduate said she starts by scouring the internet for every possible detail on the topic then takes all the time necessary to contemplate her thoughts on the issues associated with it before she even begins writing.

"I would be doing these eight-page outlines and my teacher would tell me: 'Good luck getting that down to a four-page paper,'" she said.

That was the case this year when she chose to write about the Iran-Saudi Arabia cold war through the lens of the civil war in Yemen for her Middle East, Asian and Latin America history class. There was a lot to sort through, and a lot to try to understand, but if Klein was going to do the subject justice in her own mind then she had to do it as thoroughly as possible.

"I’d take the time to sit down at my desk for hours and just think about it," she said. "Some people might think that’s a waste of time. But it was something I needed to do to take all the information I found and make sense of it all."

It is that type of diligent approach to her work that allowed Klein to flourish in nearly all honors or Advanced Placement courses and earn a 4.97 GPA. And it why she was recognized as one of the prestigious Charles Dana Meserve Scholarship recipients for her contributions to the school.

"I have always been someone who wants to exceed expectations," she said. "I set my mind to be able to do that. Going above and beyond is really important to me because I know everything I do is a reflection on me. So that’s why I try to focus on one or two things and do them really, really well. I know I could never try to juggle 10 things and do my very best at all of them."

Klein certainly did do a lot of important things during her senior year. But she said she tried to do them all as carefully and deliberately as possible. Despite not being able to do the shot put on the track team due to a herniated disc in her back, she attended most practices and helped out throwing coach Mike Bower with teaching technique to the younger members of the team. She was also a teacher’s assistant with a junior biology class where she watched lectures and helped correct labs, papers and exams.

"When I would grade multiple-choice tests I would look at what questions that most students got wrong and try to figure out what where they missing and what didn’t get through from the lectures," said Klein. "It was fascinating to me because as one student you only look at what you’re doing and don’t really think of it that way."

Klein, who will attend Swarthmore College in the fall, also helped organize Middle East Day at the school as part of its cultural awareness program.

"That was really difficult because we had to be very careful about every decision we made and how what was presented would be perceived by the greater community and outside groups," she said. "It forced us to be very responsible in every decision we made.

"But it turned out to be a very enlightening day for a lot of people."