Whiz Kid: Ariel Schuman of LMHS

Senior year of high school means a lot of different things.

Those nine months – from the first day until graduation – can be an exciting, overwhelming, and nervous time period all in one. Students are feverishly getting all of their college applications sent out, taking care of any necessary extra paperwork, all while continuing to get good grades as their high school career comes to a close.

Then there’s also the ailment of “Senioritis” that starts to kick in right about at this time. This happens when a student has already been accepted to a University and he or she doesn’t feel the need to put the time and effort into their current classes anymore.

It happens every year, with every graduating class. Some classes are more prone to it than others, but every school district goes through the same process with disinterested seniors. It's tough to avoid. The weather is getting warmer, the sun is out and being in a classroom is the last thing students want to think about. especially when they know they're accepted to a college. 

Ariel Schuman, however, seems to break that mold.

The current Lower Moreland senior has been a staple on the track team since she was a freshman, she’s the secretary for National Honor Society, volunteers in her spare time to help others, and above all else, is a great leader in and out of the classroom.

That leadership quality – along with being a genuine, caring person – is evident from her time at Dance Dynamics, a dance studio where she helps people on a weekly basis who suffer from Epilepsy.

The disorder is something that’s close to her heart as her 22-year-old sister, Sarah, suffers from it.

“I volunteer – my sister has epilepsy – so I volunteer at her dance studio every Saturday,” said Schuman, whose favorite subjects are History and English, but hates Math. “I used to dance but gave it up my junior year. Every Saturday is a dance class. Every person gets a partner and you just hang out with them, be their friend, dance with them.”

Her dedication to others is on display at Lower Moreland High School on an everyday basis. As a senior on the track team, she always makes sure the younger kids are in the right spots and doing what they are supposed to do.

She runs the 800M, the 4x8 mile and long distance. Giving up the sport she loves is going to be tough in a coupe of months.

“I run track, winter track and cross country,” Schuman said. “I’ve run every year since I was a freshman so it’s going to be weird to let that go.”

Aside from sports, Schuman has her hand in many other activities. A couple of months ago Lower Moreland completed their THON event, which comes from Penn State University where it’s the largest student-run philanthropy in the country. It helps raise money for kids with cancer and Lower Moreland brought the same concept to its school four years ago.

Lower Moreland has turned it into its own 12-hour event to raise funds and it has gained momentum every year since Schuman was a freshman.

She was a captain at this year’s event, as well as her junior year, and has helped turn this even into a success. Each captain must raise $150 by themselves to help get the event going. Dancers must donate $75 each to be on the floor at the LM gymnasium.

“It’s like mini-thon,” Schuman said. “We meet every Sunday and organize what each committee will do. And then we meet starting late-August until November when Thon happens and we just prepare for Thon.

“We have a lip-sync, a dance competition and basketball and volleyball,” Schuman added. It’s all games for 12 hours. We’ve only been doing it four years, since I was a freshman. It’s gotten huge. My freshmen year it was only 9 hours. But now if you go to school here, you do Thon.”

Schuman does not know where she wants to go to college yet, but that hasn’t stopped her from applying to numerous campuses, double digits, in fact.

She’s already been accepted to Maryland and is also interested in Penn State, Pittsburgh, Delaware, Michigan, Northeastern, Rochester, Syracuse, American, Towson.