Ian Abrams tells The Reflector about his experiences while volunteering in Belize, June 12.
Ian Abrams sits in downtown Ridgefield, June 12.
For the past 17 years, Ridgefield High School has been without a National Merit Finalist. This year, Ian Abrams stopped that drought and became the seventh National Merit Finalist in RHS history.
Becoming a National Merit Finalist is no easy feat. Of the 1.6 million students who take the PSAT every year, only about 1% of those students become National Merit Semifinalists, needing to score at least a 1400 out of 1520 on the test. Along with this, Semifinalists need to submit applications for scholarship awards to become finalists.
Abrams chalks up his accomplishments to his supportive parents and teachers and having a natural talent for taking tests.
“The people who have had the biggest influence on me are my parents,” he said. “No matter what part of my life, with school, cross country or Boy Scouts, or anything else I’m doing, they’re always completely invested.”
Abrams has continually pushed himself in his academics by enrolling in AP courses and maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. He has applied the same hard-working characteristics outside of the classroom by becoming the president of the Associated Student Body of RHS, an Eagle Scout and captain of the cross country team.
“Something that has had the biggest influence on me is my seven years of Cross Country and track,” he said. “It taught me to love working hard and it made it really easy to see the results that come from that work.”
Speaking of working hard, last summer he spent nine days in Belize to build a school library with a humanitarian group.
“Every morning before we would start work on the library, the neighborhood kids would come and we would read to them for a few hours,” he explained. “They were amazing. They were always so excited to see us there and play with us. That was such an amazing experience.” Abrams is an avid reader of both educational texts and novels and said his favorite books are “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens and “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel.
Next year, Abrams is headed to Brigham Young University to study Biochemistry. He plans to study for a year and then take two years off for a church mission.
