Sacred Heart Academy’s salutatorian, Isabella Madeleine Siegel, from Hamden, will be attending Haverford College in Pennsylvania in the fall where she plans to major in biology and minor in studio art as well as continue her life goal to learn all of the romance languages. Isabella has been heavily involved in the clubs at SHA, and is an active member of Key Club, SNHS, Mu Alpha Theta, Art Club, Peer Connection, and the president of NHS. She plans on continuing to be an active member of many clubs in college and is currently interested in the bicycling club, the folk club, and the meat club.

When Isabella is not studying, one might find her reading, biking, eating cereal, drawing, watching House of Cards, or making lists. She likes to have a strict schedule, but tries to be more flexible at the request of her friends and family. Despite her love of schedules and lists, she is a self proclaimed “earliest rising, latest sleeping, messiest, and loudest-music playing roommate ever.”To this proclamation, she also mentions that Haverford has mostly singles, so there is a good chance she will be rooming alone. But for anyone who may have her as a roommate, Isabella is a prankster and cheekily mentioned, “Once I created two fake email addresses and sent my mom emails from two difficult ‘customers’ of her cooking school.”

When asked ‘Why Haverford?’ Isabella responded by saying, “Haverford had everything I wanted in a school.” She elaborates by saying all the students are intellectually curious and take their studies seriously, while also being interested in life outside of the classroom. She maintains this love for her new home by saying, “I knew from the moment I walked on the campus that it was the right place for me, and I felt like I was coming home. There hasn’t been a person there yet that I haven’t gotten along with.” It comes as no surprise that Isabella is excited to live on campus all four years and is also interested in studying abroad to Hungary, Scotland, or Ireland for one semester. And for the juniors amidst the college process, her advice is, “If you already know what school you love the most, early decision is the way to go. It’s a great way to show your favorite school that you’re committed, and it takes off loads of stress from your senior year!”

Next year Isabella will greatly miss all her fellow senior graduates, being able to talk with the teachers at SHA, and of course, the juniors. She has particularly fond memories of Dr. Sengupta and Mrs. Gniadek who have been a source of inspiration and laughter. Of the many lessons she has learned while at SHA, her most memorable lesson was from Mrs. Gniadek who told her “… that fear would only stand in my way toward attaining my goals, of course in calculus, but also in life.” She learned this during her junior year in AP Calculus AB, the hardest class she took as well as the class she learned the most in.

Isabella has such a quirky and cheeky personality, is driven by her love to learn, and has so much wisdom to offer her classmates. And after researching sleep extensively through lab research and many surveys throughout the year, her last piece of advice to everyone who will be returning to SHA next year is, “Sleep will help your health, help you get more things done, and also make you a happier and nicer person. I’m so serious about this; sleep is the key to happiness.”