• Current Scholars
• Alumni
• Dream Big
• Scholar Travels
• Scholar Art & Music
• Scholar Stories
• The Scholar Experience

Amanda Hall

Biography

Highlights of Young Scholar Experience: One highlight of Amanda Hall’s time as a Young Scholar was the opportunity to study sustainable development at Brown University. Concerned with the environment and the future of farming (of course, she’s from Farmington) sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. She also left the great Northeast one summer for the Windy City, spending time as a Public Health volunteer in the toughest sections of Chicago.

Profile: Mount Blue High School in Farmington, Maine doesn’t have a woman’s lacrosse team. Amanda loves the sport, especially the occasional roughness and contact required to play it, so she decided to try out for the men’s team. She earned a spot on the “Cougars” varsity roster, one of the only females in history ever to make the team, winning varsity letters all four years of her high school career. That may be a surprise to the casual observer but not to Amanda’s teachers and friends (and teammates) who have come to expect the unexpected from her (as well as the occasional stick check from her lacrosse buddies). A self-described “Jill of all Trades”, Amanda has not only been a stellar student but also a musician, student government leader as well as an athlete (she’s won her share of skiing awards too). On top of all these responsibilities, Amanda still found the time to gain college credit for classes she took at Adams State College and the University of Maine at Machias.

Inspiration: Amanda has been lucky to have had several teachers and mentors who have influenced her in varying ways. Those teachers challenged her to think in new ways, pushed her outside her comfort zone, taught her new skills, and supported her through difficulties she has faced. “Because of them, I have become the person I am today and without any one of them, my life would surely be different. For this reason, I truly cannot choose just one individual for this distinction.”

Aspiration: Law school is the current plan once her undergraduate days are finished and then, hopefully, Amanda wants to become a judge.

Making a Difference: Amanda was a member of a dynasty ski team that has been Maine state champions 17 out of the last 19 years. As a senior captain of both the Alpine and Nordic squads in 2010, she led both teams to individual championships and its sixth straight overall title.

Accolades: In 2009, Rotary International presented Amanda with its Service Above Self Award. She is also a National Merit Commended Student and was honored with a National Musicianship Award. In 2009, she was presented with the Youth Leadership Award by the Diocese of Portland and was recognized by the Society of Women Engineers who awarded her the gold medal as her school’s Outstanding Math and Science Scholar.

Interesting fact: Back in 2007, Amanda, then a 15-year-old freshman at Mount Blue High School, organized the Step It Up 2007 rally in Maine to increase awareness about Global Warming. You can see a clip of the program on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnL-IqB9Jo
 

Other Scholars Like Amanda