A Q&A With Michelle Yang, State Winner of the Siemens Award

Michelle Yang, 17, was recently named the state female winner for the Siemens Award, for her accomplishments on math and science Advanced Placement exams. Ken Sykes, a spokesperson for the Madison Metropolitan School District, describes Yang as “an exceptional, well-rounded high school (and college) student”.

In addition to scoring 36 on the ACT, 2270 on the SAT, and taking courses at UW-Madison, Yang is also active outside the classroom. She is the captain of Memorial High’s tennis team, is active on the debate and forensics teams and volunteers at Math Counts, a competitive middle school math program that teaches math problem-solving to students. She is currently deciding between attending Harvard and MIT for college.

Yang recently took time to answer questions about AP tests, life in high school and plans for college, excerpted below.

MC: What is involved in winning the Siemens Award?

MY: For Siemens you qualify by taking and getting a 5 on one of the eight approved science and math AP tests, which are bio, chem, environmental science, statistics, BC calculus, computer science and two others. I took and got 5’s on four of them- bio, stats, enviro, and BC (Calculus).

MC: So what were your AP tests?

MY: I took 11 AP tests total. My first one was freshman year, I took calculus AB. Sophomore year I took five—biology, chemistry, world history, calculus BC and psychology. Junior year I also took five, which were English, microeconomics, environmental science, statistics and Chinese.

MC: What was the motivation to take all these tests in high school?

MY: The motivation was that I needed to challenge myself. Actually, my dad’s a math professor so I started off in math really early. By the time I was in eight grade, I was already in pre-calculus, so just progression-wise it was sort of obvious that the next step was calc AB, then BC, then university-level math. I also took ISP, which is ninth-grade science in eight grade as well, so the progression after that is math-chem, which is a (pre-requisite) for AP bio and AP chem.

MC: What was it like, taking classes with college kids?

MY: Not much different, actually. In terms of interactions, it wasn’t much different. People didn’t know I was in high school. They probably just thought I was a really short freshman. Otherwise in terms of course load, workload, I like how there’s a lot less busywork. Homework assignments, once a week for math classes, readings for comm arts, poli sci, international studies, it’s very on your own. These teachers don’t care if you show up for class, you have to be responsible. You have to be very on top of things, which was pretty good for me, because it gives me a sense of what college will be like.
 
MC: What motivates you to work so hard and take so many advanced classes now?

MY: I guess my parents instilled in me that hard work and doing well and being motivated, having a goal in mind, it can get you far, especially in America where, with the American Dream. There are so many opportunities that are offered here that aren’t offered elsewhere, and I should be taking advantage of them. That’s pretty much the mindset I grew up in, is that here there are so many opportunities here that there wouldn’t be in China or Ghana or somewhere, and I’m lucky to be here, I’m lucky to have a family that cares about my education and I’m lucky to have all these opportunities, so I might as well take advantage of them.

MC: Can you think of a time that has been especially difficult in high school, one struggle that has stuck out in your mind as you go through?

MY: I think somewhere along the line, second semester junior year, I had like, a major breakdown. Somewhere between prepping for my four AP tests and studying for my three UW finals, and also trying to balance the fact that I had a bunch of camp applications that didn’t really turn out that well... it was just a bunch of extra-curriculars plus finals and tests and disappointment from a lot of things that sort of just made me go, “Oh my god, why am I doing this, I’m failing, I’m not doing anything with my life” and that was sort of a hard time for me. But I mean, I overcame it.

MC: What are you most excited about for college?

MY: Freedom (laughs). Being on my own. I’m very grateful to my parents but I like living by myself. It’ll be really cool, meeting a bunch of different people, that would be really sweet. I’ve gone to a bunch of camps--every summer I go to a different camp. The summer after my freshman and sophomore year I went to math camp, and the summer after my junior year I went to an international debate program in Jordan. I feel like college is a four-year long camp—except grades matter and you’re learning a lot more—but the best part is meeting all these new people, from all different walks of life. Like (in Jordan) there were people who were from the Gaza Strip, and people who were from Texas or Korea. There were just so many different people and they just had a lot of different interests, but their interests somewhat collided with mine. Because we were all at math camp or debate camp and we were all obviously interested in something. That part was by far the coolest and I’m looking forward to that in college.

MC: Why did you want to go outside Wisconsin for college?

MY: I’m a person who likes travel, I like change, I like being in places and meeting new people, and that’s kind of why I wanted to get out of Wisconsin and the Midwest. I love the East Coast, I love Boston, and college for me has always been move out, start a new life. And also my parents, my dad has always believed that college should be where I discover new things and discover what I’m interested in.

MC: What advice to have for other students from different backgrounds who are also interested in doing well and succeeding in school?

MY: Just never giving up. There are going to be ups and downs, sometimes life’s going to suck and you’ll have three essays due the next day, plus a project and you also have tennis after-school practice. Just make sure you manage your time well, balance things out and also find something that you love, like find something that’s your passion. Because otherwise school’s going to suck.