Whiz Kid: Hannah Ruebeck

A Senior at Moravian Academy, Hannah Ruebeck, 17, feels like she is in her element the most when she is at school where she is editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, the Moravian Star, and is on the Scholastic Scrimmage TV Team, which exhibits knowledge under pressure on WLVT-TV, PBS-39 in competition from December to March.

 “I chalk it up to intellectual curiosity,” said Hannah. “Most of my leadership is in school because that is where I am in my element. I love writing, reading and thinking about big issues.”

Hannah takes advanced placement and honors courses and has maintained a 4.3 grade point average. She is currently studying Calculus 3 at Lafayette College as part of the High School Scholars Program.  

Somehow she finds time to participate as a varsity athlete on basketball team as well as in the school chorale, chamber singers and handbell group.

She works at In the Zone in Bath, hosting children’s birthday parties and scoring basketball games.

Her success comes through hard work and her ability to master organizational skills and time management, which is what she teaches her students as a peer tutor for subjects including math, English, history, biology and chemistry. 

She describes herself as “the mom of the group” and says at times she is a peacemaker as well as an educator. This is a role that she has cultivated not only through her education but through her experience in the North Carolina Outward Bound program she participated in this past summer.

Hannah was awarded one of two Moravian Academy Annual NCOB scholarships to participate in the three-week trip to the Pisgah National Forest. 

“I lived in the woods with my crew of eight students plus two instructors, back packing, canoeing and rock climbing and living under a tarp for three weeks without a shower. It was interesting.”  

She said her greatest lesson was learning to deal with people when neither she nor they were at their best. 

“When everyone is hungry, tired and frustrated, I learned how to work with people,” said Hannah, “I feel like I am the same but I learned to look at my community and my role in that community in a new way.”

Through the NCOB, she developed skills of patience, understanding and empathy and has taken them to heart in her role as the mother of the group and the peacemaker. “I learned to trust myself and be myself and not let other’s opinions sway mine.”

She says now that she is a more confident leader, more likely to get up in front of a crowd and better able to see through the eyes of others. 

For Hannah her key to success has been in her ability to teach.  “Organization is the big part of it, but I am a fast read, I get things quickly, and I can teach others," she said. "The way I learn the best is by teaching someone else.”

Hannah has skills that are useful inside the classroom, the community and even under a tarp in the woods of North Carolina, which is why she is this week’s Whiz Kid.