"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Sequoyah Student to Spend Summer at MIT

"Meaghan Williams,
Sequoyah Senior"

TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma – Most high school students enjoy spending their time off in the summer floating down the Illinois River or watching too much television. One Sequoyah Schools student prefers to spend her free time this summer doing mathematics, and preparing for a career in the engineering field. Meaghan Williams, who will be a senior at Sequoyah Schools in the fall, has been accepted to the MITES (Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science) program at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Williams is the first Sequoyah student to be accepted to an MIT program and the only student from Oklahoma selected for the 2009 summer session.

“I am going to study, study, study,” Williams said about her summer trip to MIT in Cambridge, Mass. “I have chosen engineering design as my area of interest. I want to become either a nuclear, chemical or biochemical engineer.”

She is used to hard work and lots of studying. While enrolled in high school classes at Sequoyah, Williams has maintained concurrent enrollment at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics and has been an active member of the Sequoyah Schools’ robotics team.

Williams’ pursuit of the MITES summer program began months ago with an extensive application process that included four written essays on four different science-related topics, letters of reference and above average grades and ACT test scores.

“The process was really, really, hard, but my mom encouraged me to do it, and that helped,” Williams said. “I hope that I will make new friends and get to know the campus because I really want to attend MIT after high school.”

The six-week session will begin on June 19 and conclude on August 1, giving Williams approximately one week off before the fall semester and her senior year of high school begins.

Williams, 17, of Tahlequah, is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the daughter of Tonia and Wes Williams.