Ready to start a new chapter in her life, senior Merjem Rizvancevic will be graduating as one of the top ten students for the class of 2016.
Rizvancevic has chosen to start this new chapter at the University of New Hampshire and she will be studying biology with a minor in animal science. Taking care of animals, with her experience in horseback riding and having a dog was something that she was always, “super passionate about, but it is also really challenging and [she] always [likes] a challenge.”
As for any student, Rizvancevic was faced with many obstacles that she was able to overcome with the help of her good friends and teachers. One important lesson that Rizvancevic has learned over the years is, “you have to be committed to yourself before anything else” she had taken part in many clubs such as Malden Against Cancer, and Multicultural Club and had been a two season athlete, being a member of the crew team for three years and the volleyball team for all four years. During the beginning of her senior year, she really had to pick and choose what she could do and that it was best if she chose what was, “best for [herself] instead of what is best for everyone else.”
The highlight of Rizvancevic’s high school career is “definitely the friends that [she] is leaving high school with,” she has made so many memories with the friends that she has made on teams that she was on and the clubs that she has participated in and that is was really made Malden High School home to her. All the great people she had met really contributed to the high school experience that she had. Rizvancevic feels nervous to leave MHS, knowing that, “most the people [she] is around every single day, [she] will not see anymore,” but she does feel prepared for the future.
Coming to the end of her high school career, Rizvancevic feels, “proud of [herself],” and that she has worked so hard to get to where she is now. English teacher Abbey Dick was someone that she would, “go to for anything that [she needs] for the past two years,” and that Dick would, “keep her calm throughout the high school experience.” Dick believes that she will truly shine in college and that “some people have natural intellectual talent, and some people work really hard, [Rizvancevic] is the perfect combination of excellent natural talent and working incredibly hard and that is what is going to make her successful for the rest of her life.”
Leaving with a bright outlook ahead, Rizvancevic is ready to do what is best for herself and to continue to work hard at the University of New Hampshire. She advises the underclassmen to “not do things you don’t want to do to make other people happy, challenge yourself and take AP Physics, it’s not as bad as it seems.”
