The Atheletic, Academic Inspiration of SHS
Written by Jessica Brennis, Former Student on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Madeline Smith is a senior at Snohomish High School. She has played on the varsity basketball team all four years of high school and made second team all-WESCO her freshman year and first team all-Wesco for basketball her sophomore and junior year. Last November on National Signing Day, Smith committed to play basketball at Montana State University.
She started playing with her friend in second grade. Her friend quit the next year, but Smith's mom forced her to continue basketball. "My mom signed me up, and I started crying, but it all ended up okay in the end,” said Smith.
Since Smith has played basketball for so long, she definitely has the game down. She decided she wanted to play during her freshman year. “I played on a select team when I was younger, but the team broke apart so I thought I was done after that. I got referred to a team that is designed to get athletes to the collegiate level. The day that coaches are allowed to call players I got a call from the head coach at Montana State.”
Smith decided on Montana State recently after being offered last year. “I really like it there and the talent and coaching style and school feel reminded me of Snohomish and that was a big deciding factor," said Smith.
Unlike most soon-to-be college freshman, Smith has a pretty good idea of what she wants to major in at MSU. “Chemical engineering. It’s similar to biochemical engineering, but I think I want to get my masters in biomedical engineering then relate it to sports to make a machine that would be able to prevent injuries in athletes and improve sports medicine.”
Smith took AP Chemistry last year, which has the reputation for being the hardest class in Washington State. This year, she is taking AP Physics. “[It]will help me with my major in college.” Smith has been in Honor’s society both junior and senior year. "It's a good thing to participate in because it requires you to be a good person and get involved in your community,” she said. Smith has been in AP classes since her freshman year, and is ranked 27 out of the 455 people in the senior class at Snohomish.
Last year Smith was panther of the quarter. “[My advice to student athletes is don't] procrastinate on papers and manage your time well. Don’t wait until the end of the semester because it doesn’t work,” she said. With school and basketball taking up most of her life, she says she doesn’t have much of a social life.
Though her club basketball team travels a lot, Smith doesn’t normally play year round. This year will be a different story because once her club season ends, she will go play during the summer and train with the team. Junior Katie Brandvold plays basketball with Madeline on the Snohomish girls’ varsity team. Brandvold and Smith have been friends since Brandvold's freshman year. "Our families have been friends for a long time,” said Brandvold. "Madeline is awesome as a teammate. Really inspirational, and...demands the best performance of you. It’s easy being on the court with her because you can rely on her to make a good play when you give her the ball." “[Madeline is] determined, loyal, and insanely smart.” As a younger key player on the team Brandvold says she looks up to Smith. "She is very welcoming, and she knows what she’s doing and the way she carries herself is inspiring.”
Smith and the other three seniors on the team this year are the team captains. “The hardest part about being a captain is having to make decisions that are right but that might not be what a teammate wants,” said Smith.
One of the ways the basketball team gets ready before a game is to go get some food. Many players on the team go home and eat but Smith has one place she “could eat at every day.” Pho is Vietnamese food, and there’s a restaurant right in town. Madeline’s love of pho developed when her mom took her family out for a family dinner. "Now, I’m obsessed.”
