When Churchill social studies teacher Nikki Asquith gets married this summer, senior Lauren Banks will be playing flute in the ceremony.
An all-county flute player, a community service leader and a sports captain, Banks is also a scholarship winner.
She was named one of 600 National Achievement $2500 Scholarship winners on March 26. The scholarships honor African American high school seniors of 2003, and the recipients are selected from more than 115,000 students who request consideration in the 2003 National Achievement Scholarship competition when taking the PSAT as high school juniors.
When she leaves Potomac to attend Stanford University this summer, Banks knows what she’s packing.
“I’m going to bring my field hockey stick and my flute with me,” she said.
BANKS PLAYED varsity field hockey at Churchill, and is captain for throwing field athletes as a discus thrower on the track team. She also plays flute in the school’s symphonic band and played at the flute ensemble at Catholic University.
“I was happy,” she said on winning the scholarship. “The money always helps.”
But Banks isn’t going to stop to celebrate her achievement, and said the workload isn’t any lighter in her last semester before graduation.
“I keep putting pressure on myself,” said Banks. “I’ve been working so long, why stop now?”
That’s true to form, said Kim Ferlick, a science teacher at Churchill and Banks’ field hockey coach last fall.
“If she didn’t do something correctly, she used to get down and do 10 pushups, even without my asking her to,” said Ferlick. “She was my hardest worker [and] she’s so focused.”
“She’s so modest, too,” said Kimmie Edwards, Churchill’s track coach. “She thinks she’s going to fail every test, and she studies so hard.”
Edwards altered a usual policy when naming Banks a track captain this season.
“She’s actually both the boys and girls captain,” said Edwards, who usually names one captain for boys and one for girls for throwing field events. “She’s that much of a leader and that motivated."
BANKS NAMES microbiology as her probable career field, but is considering a double major that includes political science. Politics is a passion stoked by parents with public policy careers. Lauren’s mother, Margery Baker, is the public policy director for People for the American Way and was previously an aide to the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone. Her father, Robert Banks, is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, studies technology’s impact on environmental issues, and holds a Ph.D. in protein structure.
“Dinner table discussion have always revolved around politics,” said Banks, who says she is especially passionate about issues like affirmative action, abortion and stem cell research.
She brings the passion for these issues into the classroom, too. “She always had the most amazing questions,” said Asquith, who teaches honors government, sociology and AP human geography. “She steps back and thinks before she raises her hand, [then] in a calm tone, she will come up with the most brilliant statements. … She’s not obnoxious or aggressive, but she doesn’t back down, either.”
Also a faculty sponsor of Civitans, a community service organization at Churchill, Asquith refers to “the year Lauren saved the toy drive.”
Two years ago, Asquith needed surgery and missed school for three weeks. Banks and classmate Naina Boveja took the toy drive over, putting some of their own money into the effort, wrapping presents and delivering them to a shelter. “It was amazing they did all that without a sponsor,” said Asquith. “We’re definitely going to miss her. She’s one of those students you never forget.”