Whiz Kid: Seaholm Swimming Star Wins Scholar-Athlete Award

Every week, Patch spotlights young people in the Birmingham community who are successeful, talented and just plain awesome. This week, we're pleased to introduce this week's Whiz Kid:

Megan Smith

Age: 18

School:

Achievements: Smith was selected to receive a 2011 Scholar-Athlete Award through the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) based on her succcess in sports, the classroom and around the community.

Smith, a senior at , has qualified for the MHSAA girls swimming finals for four straight years, with a specialty in the 100-meter butterfly. She will be playing water polo this spring.

Despite her efforts in the pools, she might be best known for her excellence in the classroom.

Already Smith has received scholarships to schools including the University of Michigan and Hope College, but she is also considering Duke, Georgetown, Yale and Columbia. The Bloomfield Hills resident plans to enter pre-med with an eventual emphasis in pediatric oncology.

“I was shocked and very humbled,” said Smith, who will receive a one-time $1,000 college scholarship from Farm Bureau Insurance as part of the MHSAA reward. “There are so many amazing athletes in the state.”

Smith has also been a four-year member of the Seaholm marching band and served as senior drum leader this season. She is the president of the school’s National Honor Society and is involved in the community service program, Club Interact.

Key to Awesomeness: This year Smith continued the Maple swimming tradition of excellence in and out of the pool, helping lead Seaholm to its third straight top five finish at the state finals. She also was academic all-conference all four years in the Oakland Athletic Association.

"Megan has been our best butterfly swimmer for the past three or four years and she is also a very good freestyler," Seaholm swimming head coach Karl Hodgson said. "She has been a major part of our recent success. She also was voted as a team captain by her teammates this year,  which was a big accomplishment because we have 60 swimmers on the team.

"(The award) couldn't have happened to a better student."

Smith has long been in love with the pool. She began swimming competitively with the ’s Blue Dolphins at the age of 8. Swimming quickly became a passion, but even with success in a variety of swimming events, including the butterfly and mid-range freestyle races, Smith felt she was missing some component of the team element.

That’s where water polo came in.

“Swimming is an individual sport, which is great, but water polo gives me access to a team sport which I really enjoy,” Smith said. “I really welcome working as part of a team.”

The Seaholm water polo team has been been training for the upcoming spring season with two sessions most weekdays, one hour in the morning before school and three hours after school. Competing in the sport requires a rigorous training regimen that assures water polo athletes are among the most in-shape athletes in high school sports.

Smith is determined to help the young water polo team succeed. Her team goal is to have Seaholm qualify for and win at least one match at the state regionals. That will be a tough task, especially with the powerful programs from such communities as Ann Arbor and Lansing a part of the competition.

"We lost our entire starting lineup except for me, but this is going to be a fun year,” Smith said. “It’ll be great to help build the program with younger swimmers.”