Catching up with Laura Dabrowski
Two years after Laura Dabrowski graduated with the Class of 2008, ask Huntington High School teachers about her and they will respond that she was a sweet, mild-mannered and very intelligent young woman. She was all of that, and more.
Like many high achieving students, Ms. Dabrowski had many options to choose from when it came time to decide which college to attend. She picked Wellesley and is just as pleased now as she was then.
“I absolutely love college, Wellesley and Boston,” the Huntington grad said. “I honestly could not imagine myself anywhere else. I wish I could stay in the land of academia forever though! What I love about Wellesley, beyond its gorgeous campus and proximity to Boston is the deep sense of sisterhood and tradition felt among students and alumnae. I consider myself extremely lucky to go to school with such a diverse group of brilliant women. I have learned as much from them as I have from my professors and books.”
Interesting Slate of Classes
Ms. Dabrowski is enrolled in an interesting slate of classes this fall, including a history class focusing on modern European cities and urban planning, a religion class about the foundations and evolution of Christianity from 100 – 1600, an environmental course with an emphasis on major environmental problems in the world, an environmental science lab centering on using techniques like global positioning and geologic information systems and an art history class that follows art from the ancient period up to the Renaissance.
“What is great about all of my classes is that we are really getting out of the classroom and into the field,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “For art history we have visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see the works that we have studied in class and similar works in person. In environmental science we have done a lot of field work on campus, including canoeing on Lake Waban to obtain plant samples that we tested for high concentrations of metals. For the lab portion of environmental science, a partner and I will be conducting research on how Boston has pledged to be a more bike-friendly city.”
Majoring in History
The Huntington alum plans for major in history, with a concentration on European history, and minor in religion, with a concentration in the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
At Huntington High School, Ms. Dabrowski enjoyed a successful four year run, excelling in numerous Advanced Placement courses, serving as co-president of the Habitat for Humanity club, founding and serving as president of Project Nicaragua, holding down memberships in a lengthy list of honor societies.
As a high school senior she won the Rotary Club scholarship, Jagoda scholarship, James Loebell memorial scholarship, New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence, Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizenship Award, County Executive Public Service Award and the National History Day Excellence in Research Award.
“I have recently been accepted into Wellesley’s winter session in Georgia program for this January, which I am very excited about,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “I will get the amazing opportunity to travel to the former Soviet republic of Georgia along with students from Mount Holyoake and Williams College for three weeks. We will stay with Georgian families in the capital, Tbilisi, attend lectures at the local university on Georgian culture and complete a self designed internship with a local organization. I hope to be placed with a historical organization that will allow me to investigate how the Georgian people have remained so devout and committed to Orthodox Christianity despite the Soviet suppression of religion during the Soviet era.”
Another exciting educational opportunity is also being eyed by Ms. Dabrowski as she’s just beginning the application process for a study abroad program at the University of Edinburgh for the spring 2011 semester.
At Huntington, Ms. Dabrowksi played on the JV softball and field hockey teams as a freshman, was a violinist in the orchestra for two years and participated in NYSSMA as a sophomore. An accomplished dancer, she even gained membership in the National Dance Honor Society.
Passionate about Tutoring Program
On the Wellesley campus she’s participating in the student-formed and choreographed Ascendance Ballet Company, Knit for Peace, CLIO History Club and the Wellesley College Volunteers. “One new program that I’m involved in and have become very passionate about is Chinatown Afterschool,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “It is an after-school tutoring and enrichment program run in conjunction with the Phillips Brooks House Association at Harvard University. Wellesley College students and students from Harvard work together as coordinators, counselors, tutors and educators to students in grades first through sixth who reside in Boston’s Chinatown. The program consists of the counselors picking up the children at a local park after they are finished with school, walking them to the site, helping them with homework and reading for an hour and then leading a self designed lesson for an hour. This semester I am a second grade counselor along with another counselor from Wellesley and one from Harvard. We have eleven children in our class and all of them are very energetic and enthusiastic about learning.”
The Huntington grad testified to the program’s importance in the lives of children whose parents don’t speak English and who can’t help them with homework and developing their reading skills. “Last week was a very rewarding session for me” Ms. Dabrowski said. “The topic for my program was recycling and I was able to lead a class discussion about the basics of recycling: what is recycling, what can you recycle, how do you recycle, and why is it important? After the discussion we split the children into two teams and gave them the challenge of using recycled newspaper to create the tallest tower they could. It was amazing to see how well they planned and worked together to achieve a task. They were extremely cooperative and supportive while working with one another.”
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