One might be a bit intimidated upon meeting senior Amelia “Millie” Alt. She is a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, a feat accomplished by less than 1% of those who apply for the scholarship.
However, despite her inspiring first impression, Millie is actually a very down-to-earth person. It is in the world of literature where she becomes the most comfortable, loving how she can retreat into a book.
“It’s nice to be able to sit down and get away from whatever’s happening in life,” Millie said. “That’s why I gravitate towards fantasy; it’s not happening in our world, so I can more easily get out.”
Millie has been an avid reader for many years now. The main reason she loves to read is her ability to escape to another world through her books, which definitely comes in handy when it comes to stress from school or other worries. When Millie was in sixth grade, she read over 8 million words for the millionaire contest, reading about 200 books within one school year.
“It makes me kind of sad because I used to be able to read so much,” Millie said. “But, I still love reading, and I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.”
Because of the colossal load of stress and work she has in school, especially in her senior year, Millie hasn’t been able to read as much as she used to. As her schoolwork builds on top of itself, she doesn’t have enough time to let go of her stress through her books—however, she has recently found a similar solace in her relationship with her sister.
Ever since Millie’s sister, Evelyn, became a high schooler, Millie has been able to connect with her better. Millie feels like she can let go of her problems when spending quality time with her sister, which is similar to her escapism through books.
“Sitting in the car listening to music or just talking to each other has become such a calming space,” Millie said. “It helps me focus on things that are actually good and things that matter.”
They are very different from each other with only a few similar interests, but Millie loves the small amount of hobbies she shares with her sister. The small degree of interests that they share like reading and writing allow them to get along while still feeling like their own person.
Sadly, when Millie graduates high school at the end of this year, she may not be able to see her sister quite as much. Millie hopes to study political science at the University of Chicago (U of C), which is nearly a three-hour drive from Grand Rapids. While Millie would certainly miss her family if she went to college in Chicago, she wants to use her time in college to explore and become independent.
“It is removed enough that I would feel like I was on my own and not with my family right there, just a couple hours away from them,” Millie said.
While Millie is very attracted to U of C’s sprawling campus, trimester structure, and long winter break, the most appealing aspect of the University of Chicago is the major “Law, Letters, and Society,” which connects her two favorite interests: reading and law.
The main reason Millie wishes to go into law is her love of persuasion. Millie finds that she can naturally piece together an argument with ease, enjoys presenting them, and wants to use this interest in her future career.
“I’ve always really loved finding evidence and putting it together in a way that I can use and prove my point,” Millie said. “I feel like my brain functions in a way that makes it easy to figure that kind of thing out when I need to.”
As she prepares for college and waits for a response with fingers crossed, Millie has a truckload of work to be done to get ready for college. With this massive amount of responsibility, Millie finds that taking care of her many plants keeps her accountable for all of her schoolwork.
“I think having the plants that I have to take care of, just me, has really shown me how much care it takes to make something stay alive,” Millie said.
When she first started taking care of her plants, she didn’t put the time and care into keeping them alive. However, as she has begun to devote more time to care for her plants, Millie finds that it has made her more disciplined.
She has also discovered that taking care of her plants has made her more empathetic toward other people and she applies this empathy and responsibility to her academic and social life.
“I feel like I have more care now when I look at people,” Millie said. “I can see my plants, and I see a small thing and know it doesn’t actually mean anything. Or I see something that is going really wrong with it and I have to do something to change it. I feel like that [reasoning] applies to people.”
