Emery McKiddy and Jany Zhang, Chesterton’s two national merit semifinalists, immersed in far more than books in making the most of their high school experiences

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Not even 1% of the high school students who take the PSAT score high enough on it to earn the distinction “national merit scholarship semifinalist.”
Chesterton seniors Emery McKiddy and Jany Zhang made the cut. In other words, they crushed the test, although perhaps not to the extent they daily crush the fading stereotype pinned on the super bright. You know, the one that has their faces buried in books every waking moment, oblivious to the myriad opportunities to enjoy the entire high school experience.
On the contrary, national merit semifinalists McKiddy and Zhang, honored at halftime of the homecoming football game, partake in athletics and academic after-school activities not so that they can flush out their college applications, rather because they enjoy the time spent with students who have similar interests. They do it because they like the human connections that books can’t offer.
Zhang has run cross country and track for four years. McKiddy is on the golf team, an alternate for Friday’s sectional at Valparaiso Country Club.
Zhang is involved with the Japanese Club, the Science Olympiad and Academic Super Bowl and still finds time to work at her parents’ Japanese restaurant, Musashi. Emery is in Speech and Debate and is captain of the debate team. She also is in Spanish Club and the Save Promise Club and is manager of the Trojans’ dive team.
“Besides the fact that they are incredibly impressive academically, Jany and Emery are normal, everyday, likeable, fun-to-be-around people, which is wonderful,” English teacher Mr. (Michael) Livovich said. “That’s not always the case with high achievers.”
The deadline for the girls’ application to become finalists is Oct. 8 and it must include an essay. McKiddy’s topic opens a window as to how she once might have fit the bookworm stereotype that no longer applies.
“It’s about a challenge I overcame,” she said. “I changed from being very shy and not really able to speak to much more outspoken as I’ve aged through my experiences. … I told myself I should become a risk-taker: ‘I just need to do this’ and once those either failed or succeeded: ‘OK, know myself a lot better now.’”
Without even intending to, with those words McKiddy captured what the CHS administration and faculty pushes harder than the Philadelphia Eagles offensive linemen push their ballcarriers in what has become known as the “Brotherly Shove.” Try after-school opportunities, see if they are for you, and if they aren’t, try others until you find your sweet spot or spots.
“I tried out for the diving team, and I didn’t make it, but instead of being embarrassed and running away, I’m now the manager of the diving team and I have been since my freshman year,” McKiddy said. “OK, I realized I don‘t want to dive but I want to be the diving manager. I guess it’s very cliché, but joining debate helped me find my voice, find more confidence in myself. I’ve been told it’s very rare for someone my age to know myself as well as I do. I’m very aware of my flaws and my strengths. I got it through doing stuff in my life, taking risks, succeeding, failing, finding out.”
Bingo.
As for managing time with so many activities competing for it, Zhang explained how in a way her distance running makes it easier: “It makes me more efficient in school: ‘I have to get this done because I’m going to have this race, I’m going to have this practice, this workout,’ but then it also helps me be efficient at practice so we don’t stand around and talk so much, so that we actually get our stretching in and our run in so that we can go home early.”
In addition to enjoying conversations with her teammates, Zhang said, “It’s a good way to relieve stress when you’re going on long runs and you’re clearing your mind.”
McKiddy’s debate category is Public Forum, which requires knowing how to argue both sides of a topic because students don’t find out whether they are tackling the pro or con side of an issue until a coin toss at the competition, much like a football game. The winner of the toss can either choose the topic or choose whether to go first or second.
Debate lasts from October through January and in Public Forum, the topics change monthly.
“With all the research, I feel smarter doing it,” McKiddy said. “My knowledge of the world has broadened so much.”
She described the Save Promise Club’s function: “We promote safety for students against violence everywhere, it’s combined with the Sandy Hook Promise, keeping gun violence away from our school.”
McKiddy has received awards for the national Spanish club every year of high school so far.
As a fifth-year Japanese student, Zhang no longer is eligible for the Japanese Olympiad but will partake in a Japanese speech competition in the second semester. Her love of the language has led to more opportunities for students who share that passion.
Zhang successfully lobbied for the Japanese students to be able to take an AP test.
“We got that up and running, and I think about 10 students took it last year,” Zhang said. “Also, I was talking to my Japanese teachers, and I asked how come we don’t take the national Japanese exam because I know Spanish German and French have it, so Tsugawa sensei looked into it, and we get to take it this year.”
McKiddy includes among her responsibilities to serve as aide to Spanish teacher Mrs. (Kaylene) Arizzi .
“Emery has a really fun personality. I love talking with her,” Arizzi said. “I’m really excited for her because even though being the best isn’t what matters to her, it’s cool to see her hard work pay off. She is such a positive person. She’s willing to work with anyone.”
Even as academically accomplished as Zhang is, procrastination isn’t completely foreign to her, at least in Science Olympiad.
“The bus to the competition is where we all freak out and study,” she said. “There are a bunch of build events, and I think a bunch of years there is an event called ‘Bridge’, and we made the bridge on the bus.”
Jany tends to steer clear of the building events in favor of something she enjoys more.
“I do code-busters. I like solving codes. There are math-based codes and there are letter-based codes in Aristocrat,” she explained. “You get a frequency table of the most used letters in the English alphabet, and you try to see how frequently a certain letter appears in the code because that letter is replaced with another letter, so you have to make sure you guessed the right letter. Otherwise, it won’t work out. I do the math ones, like cryptarithm. It’s numbers replacing the letters, so you have to figure out which letter corresponds to the number.”
The clubs of choice for the semifinalists show how their interests differ, but they agree on at least one thing: AP Physics is the most difficult class they have taken at Chesterton.
“I adore them both,” physics teacher Mr. (Brian) Hennigar said. “They have exactly everything you want out of students. They’re hardworking, inquisitive, and ask questions. They go beyond to make sure they understand it. They do it with a little bit of attitude, but in the right way. They push you as a teacher to be a better teacher because they aren’t satisfied with learning halfway.”
He added that “Jany is one of the hardest-working, nose-down, get it done people I know, and you have to appreciate that. She has an academic fortitude that goes beyond everything else. I think I had to tell her no to taking her 10th AP class in a year last year.”
Hennigar on McKiddy: “I love Emery’s spark. I love her wit. Emery is a great student, hard worker. A little sassy, again, in the right way. She will tell me when a lesson went well. She will tell me when a lesson didn’t go well. I appreciate her drive. She wants to understand, not just get a good grade. She really seeks to master the material.”
To hear their teachers tell it, intellectual curiosity, not a desire for a high score, was the driving force behind McKiddy and Zhang becoming national merit semifinalists.

Onwardtrojans.com intern Patrick Mochen contributed the quotes from interviews with Chesterton teachers used in this report.