Nadia Minai is an unassuming girl with a sweet smile who happens to have the highest grade point average in the Stone Bridge Class of 2005.
Nadia's also a model student who has had to overcome the loss of her father when she was 6 years old, just before moving to Ashburn Farm.
"I knew what was going on, but it didn't quite hit me until I was older and I didn't have a father," she said.
An only child, Nadia and her mother are very close, making her eventual move to the University of Virginia this fall all that more difficult.
"We are inseparable, which is why it's going to be tough," Nadia said.
Nadia's extended family has always stayed close. "My cousins are like my brothers and sisters," she said.
But after four years of growing, Nadia is ready to take on the college challenge.
"I'm nervous because I'm really close to my mom so I think it will be hard to leave her," she said. "But I'm excited."
She will be rooming with a friend she met at Governor's School and while her major is still undecided, her strengths in math, science and the liberal arts means the possibilities are many.
Along with her 4.39 grade point average, Nadia has been involved with Future Educators of America and Key Club. She's also a member of Stone Bridge's only five-year class — her eighth-grade class attended the brand-new, not-yet-filled high school five years ago.
And since Nadia has been an Ashburn Farm resident for a decade, she's traveled through the school system with more or less the same group of students.
"There's just so many new people coming," she said, but "I do feel like I know who the majority of the class is."
NADIA'S not yet sure what she wants to do with herself, but she knows one thing: she's great with children. She has tutored children alongside her mother, who is a teacher at a Montessori school, and she will spend this summer babysitting.
"I don't know if I want to be a teacher, but I love tutoring the kids," she said.
Sarah Sturtz taught Nadia in 12th-grade English class.
"She has all this intelligence, but she doesn't have an ounce of resting on her laurels or arrogance," Sturtz said. "She's not grade-oriented."
As for what Nadia should do with the rest of her life, Sturtz has an idea.
"Pediatrician," Sturtz said. "I see her working with people."