No Bad Days for Laura Dabrowski
Laura Dabrowski hasn’t had a bad day since she decided to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts. During her years at Huntington High School she was an intellectual powerhouse and widely regarded as one of the sweetest members of the Class of 2008. She’s been busy cramming as many experiences as possible into every college semester.
“My year at school wrapped up nicely,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “I was enrolled in a course on European history called ‘Religion and Modernity,’ so I ended up researching and writing a final seminar paper on Protestant dissenter groups in England in the 17th century. I was also enrolled in a religion course on the Virgin Mary and wrote a final research paper on Eastern Orthodox Virgin Mary icons. My last two classes were an introductory course on psychology and an introductory course on art history.”
Wellesley is providing the intellectual stimulation and diversity of activities that the Huntington grad had hoped it would. “I truly enjoyed all of my classes and my extracurricular activities this past year,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “I recently became co-president of the student ballet company on campus and I’m excited to start choreographing and planning for next year. I’m still as head over heels about Wellesley as when I started so I think that’s a good sign.”
Ms. Dabrowski’s high school years included excelling in numerous Advanced Placement courses, serving as co-president of the Habitat for Humanity club, founding and serving as president of Project Nicaragua and maintaining membership in a lengthy list of honor societies. She 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.
“This summer I’m working for the U.S. National Park Service as park ranger in Boston National Historical Park,” she said. “I work as a ranger at Bunker Hill and the Charlestown Navy Yard where I give historical talks and answer visitor’s questions. I absolutely love it. It’s awesome to be able to study and then interpret local history for visitors. Perhaps a career in the National Park Service is in my future.”
As a high school senior Ms. Dabrowski 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.
“As much as I love being a park ranger and summertime, I’m eagerly awaiting returning to school in the fall,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “I’m planning on taking a course on the European Enlightenment, a course on Russia under the Romanov’s and a religion course on Eastern religions. I’m also planning on cross registering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take a course on American urban history in their urban planning department.”
The 2011 spring semester is shaping up to be another exciting time for the Huntington alum. “I was accepted to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study European history and religion,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “I’m ecstatic about the opportunity to study abroad in Scotland. If all goes well, I’ll be staying on in either Scotland or England next summer to do research in the archives for my senior honors history thesis, which would be an amazing opportunity.”
Without a doubt, Ms. Dabrowski is a very busy person. But, she thinks about her hometown and alma mater. “I miss Huntington and the Huntington Public Schools a lot,” she said.
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