Three Seniors Named National Merit Scholars

Walking the halls of are three students whose academic achievements not only distinguish them at the school, but among students nationwide.

These three—Carolyn Urban, Christine Urban and Brittany Wun—received the National Merit Scholar’s “commended” recognition, meaning their PSAT scores were in the top 96th percentile in the state. The school board recently honored the Urbans and Wun for their National Merit Scholar distinction.

Not that any of them slowed down much from their busy scholastic and extracurricular activities to dwell on the moment. All three girls maintain an intense schedule that balances school, extracurriculars and other interests. But they set aside some time for Cinnaminson Patch to talk about the National Merit Scholar honor, preparing for college and their plans after graduation.

Carolyn Urban

News of the National Merit Scholar award came unexpectedly for Carolyn Urban, 17. Scholars are selected based on their PSAT scores, a test Urban took sophomore year. She didn’t have to apply for the award, so any thought of the PSATs was on the backburner as Urban started her senior year.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it until we heard earlier this year about getting it,” Urban says. “And we actually weren’t thinking about it at the time (of the PSATs). It was more of, ‘Let’s just do well.’”

Despite sharing high academic achievements and many of the same activities, Urban and her twin sister Christine have forged different paths at CHS. More focused on math, Carolyn Urban is part of the math league, as well as Interact, S.T.O.P., physics Olympics, the bowling team, Battle of the Books, National Honor Society and Cinnamentors peer mentoring.

When she applies to schools—namely her top choices, Rochester University or Elizabethtown College—Urban is looking for a good actuarial sciences program.

“I’ve always been interested in math, but I never knew what I could do besides teaching,” Urban says. A college professor turned her on to actuarial science, which uses math and statistics to analyze risk. “At first, I thought it was science, but I started looking into it and realized this is something I would really enjoy doing.”

Not surprising, given her planned career path, Urban names AP Statistics as one of her favorite Cinnaminson classes.

“I’m just much more fond of numbers than words,” she says. “Math always comes above history or literature for me.”

As the first half of senior year winds down, Urban is craving the independence of college.

“Being more in charge of my own schedule is something I’m really looking forward to,” she notes. “I think that freedom will be nice.”

Christine Urban

Like her sister, Christine Urban’s mind wasn’t on the PSATs this year or the National Merit Scholar award. Instead, the 17-year-old has Florida in her sights.

“The senior trip is coming up and I really, really can’t wait for that,” Urban says of the class’ trek to Disney World March 22-26.

Before then, Urban has plenty to keep her busy, including a slew of Advanced Placement classes and her after-school activities, including bowling, Interact, National Honor Society, Battle of the Books, science league, art club, S.T.O.P. and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).

A bit squeamish around medical situations, but still an animal lover, Urban plans to study zoology. She doesn’t want to be veterinarian, but still wants to focus on animals.

“I really want to go to Delaware Valley College—they have a good program for zoo sciences. You get internships at zoos and aquariums—that would be amazing,” Urban said.

With college and with their different interests comes the inevitable split up of the Urban twins. Are they ready for that?

“We’re both OK with it,” Christine Urban says. “We knew it was coming, and we’ve always had separate classes.”

Urban’s parents deliberately asked for their daughters to be in separate classes growing up to help them develop their own interests. It worked, with each girl enjoying some of the same activities as her sister and some individually.

As she prepares to apply for college, Urban is thinking about how her academic life will change next year.

“I’m looking forward to more focus on the subjects I like. So my classes will be more focused around the sciences and I won’t have to worry about history as much,” she says. “Mostly, I just can’t wait to get an internship.”

Brittany Wun

Brittany Wun turned her focus to college admissions early. The 16-year-old senior—she skipped ahead a year in early elementary school—has her sights set on Harvard University for early admission.

“It’s always been a dream school for me,” Wun explains. “Two of the girls that I admired the most when I was younger both went to Harvard, and I also love the location where it’s not directly in the city, but at the same time, it’s not completely isolated.”

If Harvard isn’t in the cards, Wun’s plans may include Columbia, Duke or Johns Hopkins universities or the University of Michigan.

Regardless of where she ends up, the senior has a career path in mind.

“I’m planning on entering the medical field, but I’m majoring in biomedical engineering because I feel like BME encompasses more fields than just a major in biology or pre-med,” she says.

Wun has rounded out her academics with a slate of extracurricular activities at CHS. Wun is on the tennis team, the math and science leagues, physics Olympics, mock trial, strings and pit orchestra and World Affairs Council. Regular attendees of school board meetings also know her as the student council liaison to the board.

As she prepares to bid farewell to CHS, Wun can’t pick one thing that she will miss in particular. Instead, she said, it will be the entire high school experience.

“I’m definitely looking forward to college, but I know I’ll miss my friends, my teachers and all of the people I’ve worked with for my extracurricular activities, especially the tennis team from this past season,” she says.

“And from what I hear from all of my college friends, I’m going to miss the high school workload, but I definitely look forward to the challenge that college will present. I love being challenged and where better to do that than college?”