Catching up with Meghan Smith
Four years have really flown by for Meghan Smith, who graduated with Huntington High School’s Class of 2006 and who is in her final semester at Cornell University where she is majoring in biology and society.
Ms. Smith has completed a wide range of challenging coursework for her Cornell major, “which sort of combines the natural sciences and humanities,” she said. “It explores how science affects individuals and society.” She is also closing in on minors in global health and Africana studies.
At Huntington High School, Ms. Smith was an Advanced Placement Scholar and a member of the National Honor Society as well as the Art, Tri-M Music and Math honor societies. She earned the Suffolk County Science Teacher Association Award, Rotary Club scholarship, Bausch & Lomb Science Award and the President’s Education Award.
Ms. Smith’s future plans include obtaining a master’s degree in public health. “Before I apply, I am looking for experiences I can acquire in the meantime,” she said. “So far I have applied to the Peace Corps, Teach for America, and some global health-related fellowships. Obviously, I won't know what I'll actually be doing until I hear decisions from these organizations. Everything's so competitive, but we’ll see what happens. My dream after finishing my education is to participate in global health-related research, ideally in Africa.”
The Huntington grad has already gained a good deal of experience in human development research and she says she would “love to ultimately combine this interest with global studies.”
Ms. Smith spent last summer in Uganda. “I had an incredible time and it taught me a lot about what I want to do with my life,” she said. “I went through an organization called AIESEC, which is the largest student-led organization in the world. It provides international internships for students in 107 countries worldwide. When I went, I was the only person coming from Cornell. Other people came from various universities in various countries.”
Lived with a Ugandan Family
During the experience she met with people from England, the Netherlands, Egypt, Japan and an assortment of other nations. She also met a large network of Ugandan students from Makerere University. Ms. Smith and another student from London lived with a Ugandan family, which she called “a wonderful experience.”
The pair of students was welcomed into a home that housed seven boys and a mother. “To me, the absolute best part of the experience was that I got to meet and work with other students about my age from all over the world,” Ms. Smith said. “I learned not just about Ugandan culture, but also about cultures around the world. It’s really enlightening to see that despite large differences in upbringing, we as students share many of the same goals.”
This was not a traditional study abroad program. “I was not with other Cornell students, or even other Americans,” Ms. Smith said. “It was all about just getting there and inserting yourself into the environment. In my mind, this is the best way to learn about another culture. I’ve maintained contact with many of the people I met there. I realized I love traveling because I love new experiences and pushing my limits. I love challenges and I found it doesn’t take a lot to faze me.”
The Huntington grad taught a curriculum centered on life skills and HIV/AIDS in a secondary school and led an after school program that included ten children. “It was wonderful that by the end of my two months I had developed a true bond with the kids,” Ms. Smith said. “My job there was to work with a small Uganda-based NGO (non-governmental organization) called Vision for Sustainable Development. Some challenges with the NGO included speaking to classes with up to 175 kids. Again, it was a worthwhile challenge.”
Kept a Blog
Ms. Smith kept a blog (http://ugandanmeghan.blogspot.com/) while in Uganda. It makes for interesting reading, especially the end of the entry called “a little work, a little play” that “brings it back to sixth grade, so you may find that funny,” she said.
Since returning from Uganda she has remained connected to the trip’s sponsoring organization and has helped other people have similar experiences. “I love being part of such a huge international network,” Ms. Smith said. “I feel very strongly about the benefits of this program and highly recommend it to anyone thinking about going abroad.”
On her college campus in upstate New York, the Huntington alum has “kept very busy with activities outside of class. Overall, my very varied experiences at Cornell have really helped me learn a lot about myself and my interests.”
One of her biggest commitments has been the REACH (Raising Education Achievement Challenge) tutoring program. Ms. Smith has progressed from being a tutor in her freshman year to a team leader to the service learning co-chair. “My most current job is to make sure that 200 tutors are learning about the achievement gap in Ithaca and throughout the country,” she said. “I have had a fantastic time working with kids in Ithaca, spending a lot of time at a community center called Greater Ithaca Activities Center.” It’s a wonder she even has the time to sleep.
Team Leader of Study
“One of my largest commitments is my work in my lab, the Lab for Rational Decision Making,” Ms. Smith said. “I am the team leader of a longitudinal NIH-funded study that tests risk-taking in adolescence. To sum up, a complex study in the smallest nutshell, we are testing a contemporary theory of information processing called ‘fuzzy trace theory.’ We are testing the effects of a new sexual education curriculum on adolescents' risk-taking behavior.”
The curriculum was initially piloted in 2003, Ms. Smith explained. “Adolescent participants were surveyed so that we could track their behavior and we are wrapping up analysis of those findings now,” she said. “Hopefully, we will be able to publish findings from the pilot study soon. At the moment, we are revamping the curriculum and are gearing up delivering it to the community yet again so that the analyses can be repeated. Lab is a huge commitment, but it has really helped me develop an appreciation for academic research and has led me to consider remaining involved in research.”
Ms. Smith is also a member of a peer counseling group at Cornell. “It took three semesters of intensive training to become a counselor,” she said. “The effort was well worth it and led to one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had at Cornell.”
She’s also a member of the senior honor society and serves as the group’s service chair. “I have initiated work with the Ithaca community, most recently raising money for a community center to purchase brand new books from the organization, First Book,” Ms. Smith said.
Two Trips to Nicaragua
Her international travels have included two trips to Nicaragua during spring breaks with Bridges to Community. Ms. Smith said the journeys were “amazing” experiences and combined with her work in Uganda, “definitely sparked my interest in global issues.”
Looking back to her time in Huntington allowed Ms. Smith to reflect on many aspects of her experiences in the district. “Almost every single teacher I had since kindergarten was wonderful,” she said. “I remember each of them.” Her recollection of middle school is a little hazy because that’s when students start to regularly rotate through their classes and many more teachers enter the life of a student, but the Huntington grad has no complaints.
“As for high school, I would not have wanted to go to high school anywhere else,” Ms. Smith said. “Every time I return to watch a sports game, Homecoming, concert, etc., the memories come back.”
Huntington teachers always had a high opinion of Ms. Smith, but some might be taken aback by her now. “I would guess that my earliest teachers would be surprised to see how I have changed since I was always the shyest kid in the class,” she said.
A degree from Cornell is impressive and the work she completed in Africa and Central America speaks for itself, but the Huntington alum said that going from “being the girl who never, ever talked in class to the person that I am today is my biggest accomplishment of all.”
All graphics, photographs, and text appearing on the Huntington Public Schools home page and subsequent official web pages are protected by copyright. Redistribution or commercial use is prohibited without express written permission. Comments or Questions? email the Public Information Office