[slideshow_deploy id=’84114′]Consistency can be hard to keep up with, especially if it includes earning straight As throughout middle and high school. But the task is not impossible, as senior Matthew Casler shows.
“I had never earned a B in middle school, so I wanted to continue the trend in high school,” Casler said. “It became more important once I realized it’s value in college admissions.”
College admissions motivated Casler to keep his 4.0 grade point average.
“It sounds shallow, but I worked this hard for college admission,” Casler said. “It started out as a personal goal, but a perfect GPA would have made me one of the most competitive applicants at many schools.”
On top of having all A’s, Casler has excelled in 17 Advanced Placement classes. He was named a National AP Scholar and has taken the most AP classes in school history. Casler took AP Chemistry, AP US History, AP Psychology, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish Language, AP Computer Science A and AP English Language his junior year, and currently takes AP European History, AP United States Government, AP Calculus BC, AP Comparative Government, AP English Literature, AP Statistics, and AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics. These classes, though acing them, have not been easy for Casler.
“AP European History with Mrs. Bykov takes the cake [for my hardest class],” Casler said. “I’ve stayed up past 2 or 3 a.m. countless times to stay on top of the material.”
Alongside taking challenging courses, Casler also holds leadership positions around school. He currently leads as National Honor Society president, Mu Alpha Theta parliamentarian, Model United Nations president, and Legend yearbook Editor-in-Chief.
Casler’s involvement in Boone publications has been influential. His first year on the Legend yearbook, it received a Gold Crown award from Columbia Scholastic Press Association and a Pacemaker from National Scholastic Press Association. Under his lead as Editor-in-Chief, the yearbook won both the Gold Crown and Pacemaker for the second year in a row. On his own, he has won four CSPA awards, four Quill and Scroll awards, been inducted into the International Journalism Honor Society, and has won two Florida Scholastic Press association awards. Among all these awards, Casler was named the 2015-16 Todd C. Smith Florida Journalist of the Year from Florida Scholastic Press Association, and was a runner-up for National Journalist of the Year from Journalism Education Association.
“[My favorite class and teacher is] journalism with Mrs. Burke. No other class has taught me so much about myself, and no other teacher has been so invested in my success,” Casler said. “Earning Florida state JOY [was my biggest achievement]. It showed me my talent and potential as a journalist. I know it’s my calling now.”
Casler will attend Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in the fall and will major in journalism and political science.
“The Fourth Estate is losing its strength to check the government’s moves,” Casler said. “I feel it’s my duty to check the power of our government.”