Agganis Scholar Shaw-Wyke a role model to peers, family

For those who went to high school back in The Day, the subjects that students are being taught has changed dramatically.While math, English, science, and many others are still being taught, students are now learning about real-life situations and how to be role models within their respective communities.One person who embraces that is Kristin Shaw-Wyke of Salem, as she took part in several peer groups during her years at Salem High. That, along with her solid work in the classroom, and combined with a strong athletic career, earned her one of the 13 coveted Agganis scholarships that are handed out to recent high school graduates within the area.”I was really surprised to have won one of the scholarships,” she said. “I had no idea about it until I got the call, telling me that I had won. It really means a lot to me, as I put in a lot of time doing my schoolwork.”Her philosophy about what one should be learning in school should probably be posted on the walls of every high school in the US.”School shouldn’t be about math and the other subjects,” said Shaw-Wyke, who was accepted at Indiana during early admission and will attend in the fall. “There’s so much to learn about the world around us, and our place in it.”Among several activities that she took part in were Face Day, and helping to create a Task Force with her school principal.”Regarding Face Day, every half-hour, someone in the United States dies in a drunk driving accident,” she said. “What we did was, someone would have their face painted white (every half-hour) and wear a white shirt while walking around school. It really made an impression. With the Task Force, we tried to have programs to help limit the usage of drinking and drugs.”Shaw-Wyke is also a role model to her two younger sisters as well, Audrey and Sophie, who are entering their junior and freshman years, respectively, at Salem High.”Our mother died when I was eight, and I realized that I had to step up and help take some responsibilities,” Kristin Shaw-Wyke said. “Our dad raised us, and we weren’t allowed to watch TV. I’ve always been independent, and tried to pass that on to my sisters.”She initially played sports all year round, as a goalie in the fall for the Witches girls soccer squad, swimming in the winter, and then being an attacker for the girls lacrosse team. She stopped swimming after her sophomore year.”I wanted to focus on academics, and so I quit swimming to help me do so,” she said.As a result of that decision, Shaw-Wyke raised her grade-point average to an astounding 4.21 (taking several Advanced Placement courses), becoming a member of the National Honor Society in the interim.She gives great credit to her coaches, soccer coach Jessica Doyle and lacrosse coach Rene Novoa, for her success in the classroom.”What I learned from them is how to apply myself, especially when it came to time management,” Shaw-Wyke said. “You get out of school (for the day), and you have practice, and then homework. And they also told me to take my weakest part of the sport, and continue to work at it. In soccer, it was working on breakaways, and in lacrosse, it was just becoming more confident.”She already has established a full slate for herself when she heads to Indiana (though she applied to other schools as well, the Big Ten college was the only one that she looked at).”Though the school doesn’t have a lacrosse team, it does have a club (team), and so I’ll be playing that,” said Shaw-Wyke, who will either take a double major in business and economics or a single major in public and environmental government. “And I got the (five) classes that I wanted: Chinese, economics, business, math, and English.”Out of the two sports that she stayed with at Salem, lacrosse is Shaw-Wyke’s first love.”I prefer it, as I’ve been playing it since seven,” she said. “I did a report on the history of the game, and how it affected football.”As someone that is constantly challenging herself (she just took up both parasailing and win