National Merit semifinalist: Amanda Marks | The Meadows School
Reading independence isn't common among 2-year-olds, unless they're like Amanda Marks.
Her mother distinctly remembers trying to share "Frog and Toad are Friends" when Amanda was a toddler.
"Amanda grabbed the book from me and we never read to her again," said Iris Fieldman Marks, who has made books a daily part of her daughter's life since she was a newborn.
Amanda wanted to read on her own. By the time she was 3, she was into chapter books.
Amanda's interest in the printed word was evident by the time she was a year old.
"She'd take your finger and make you point to the words as you read," Iris said of the reading time she and her husband, Daniel Marks, spent with their daughter.
Amanda, now 18, doesn't remember that but it seems about right for the National Merit semifinalist, a ranking that places her among the top 1 percent of America's high school seniors for their PSAT scores. The PSAT, co-sponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corp., is a standardized exam that measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills and writing skills.
But grades, class ranking and accolades have never been Amanda's primary concern. Her unweighted GPA is 3.6, not a perfect 4.0, and she's not valedictorian of her class at The Meadows School, a private school in Summerlin. None of that bothers her. She hates putting the emphasis on grades.
"I just love learning," said Amanda, who has taken a slew of advanced courses that, when weighted, boost her GPA to 4.25.
She finds it hard to shoot for an A if she's not interested in the subject, such as math and science.
"Math is very straightforward and exact, no room to be creative. Just, 'You're wrong,' " Amanda said Monday.
But when she cares, she strives.
A prime example of that is how she became a nationally ranked fencer.
Amanda's dad needed something to do while waiting for her at dance rehearsals. He took up fencing at a nearby studio, so Amanda tried it and excelled.
But her real passion is theater, which she plans to study at Cornell University and pursue in New York City.
Her decision has been met skeptically by some peers and teachers.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Amanda quotes them as saying. "Get ready to starve."
But the criticism never comes from her parents, who are lawyers.
Amanda has been honing her performance skills at downtown's First Fridays, where she has earned $100 in a few hours playing violin on the sidewalk. She took up the violin at 2, but became a street musician because friends were selling artwork on First Fridays.
"I ended up making more than the artists," said Amanda, who plays everything from classical music to Lady Gaga.
Although she is mature, Amanda still has her teen moments.
"At red lights, sometimes I roll down all my car windows, blast Lady Gaga and sing along, serenading all the other drivers. I just hope I never see anyone I know while doing it."
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
