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Megan Mary Parsons

Biography

Highlights of Young Scholar Experience: It was at a Foundation-sponsored Welcome Weekend in 2007 that Young Scholar Megan Parsons met a physician who had such an impact on her, she set her sights on also becoming an M.D, a neurosurgeon to be specific.  During her time in high school the young lady from Michigan participated in a host of summer research institutes which solidified her career choice.  

Profile: Megan is an energetic young woman bound for greatness.  She hails from the tiny hamlet of Fowler, MI, a rural community north of Lansing.  Just about everyone who’s ever known Megan – teachers, fellow students and neighbors says she is “one in a million.”  That may or may not be true, but she’s definitely one in 1,136 (the population of Fowler).  Megan will be leaving the small town scene for college in a big city in the East in 2011 after racking up an impressive list of awards and honors in high school and the community. Megan had no qualms about spending time in other parts of the nation during her years as a Young Scholar.  Whether it was working on cancer research at the University of Pittsburgh, drafting a paper on Somali piracy at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, DC, or meeting with Nobel Laureates at Princeton University, Megan met the challenges head on.  In fact, one of her mentors admiringly said of Megan: “In almost every way, she manages to make herself a classy, mature, and accomplished 30-year-old in an 18-year-old’s body.” 

Inspiration: In addition to her mother, who “dedicated her life to my educational and personal growth,” Megan said that her mentor, Dr. Kim Hoogeveen of Quality Living Inc., was instrumental in her success in and out of the classroom.  Megan first met Dr. Hoogeveen at a Foundation welcome weekend prior to her beginning high school and he invited her to “shadow” neuropsychologists at his facity in Nebraska.  “Seeing his passion for his work, I know what I aspire to academically and personally.” 

Aspiration: Following completion of her undergraduate degree, Megan hopes medical school will follow. 

Making a Difference: Ever since she was a freshman in high school, Megan has given her time to tutoring youngsters who are having a difficult time in school.  That’s just part of what she has done on a one-to-one basis.  On a larger scale, Megan spent two months during the summer of 2010 at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute where she said her most prized scientific accomplishment was identifying ways in which cancer could “theoretically become manageable though controlled carbon intake.” 

Accolades: Here is just a partial listing of her honors: Megan represented her country in the International First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics and received an honorable mention for her research paper; she was a finalist for the National Young Astronomer Award; she was the Michigan Brain Bee Champion in the Neuroscience competition in 2010. Megan won her school’s Sir Isaac Newton Award for calculus, and she won the gold medal in a regional oratory competition in 2009 for her speech on Alzheimer’s disease.  

Interesting Fact: Not just one, but two interesting facts about Megan: She co-authored and edited a collaborative policy document on Somali piracy that was published and distributed to Washington, D.C. institutions and think tanks in 2010; and when she was eight years old, Megan was one of the opening dance acts for American country singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers on the Chesaning Showboat Music Festival.

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