Mackenzie Norton, senior, is a varsity cheerleader and is currently a semi-finalist for the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundations scholarship.
The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola bottlers came together to create the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation in 1986. The Foundation has annual scholarships of $3.4 million through three nationally recognized programs on behalf of the Coca-Cola system. They have also supported over 1,400 college students each year.
“It’s a $20,000 scholarship for people all around America. You have to go through these different interview processes and have to write essays about the things you’ve done,” Norton said.
When Norton was talking to a friend, they brought up the scholarship and told her she should apply for it because of her excellent grades and help giving back to the community.
Someone who inspires Norton is her step-mom. Norton feels many people stereotype their stepmom, which makes it hard for them. Norton mentions how her stepmom is always there for her.
“She came from nothing and had to go through all these terms of being a stepmom, yet she’s always the one in my corner, pushing me to do all these things and get these accomplishments,” Norton said.
Norton is very passionate about her community and giving back to people. She is the president of Best Buddies, a non-profit organization and club at JHS for people who have disabilities.
“I make pairs with people who don’t have IDD (intellectual developmental disability) with people who do. So when we pair them [those with IDD] up, they have this friendship throughout the whole year,” Norton said.
According to bestbuddies.org, their program ¨builds friendships between people with and without IDD, offering social mentoring while improving the quality of life and level of inclusion.”
For more information about the club or how to join, their Instagram is “bestbuddiesjhs” and their Google Classroom code is “p56rulz”.
Norton has a strong passion for cheer as she is on the JHS cheer squad. Not only does Norton love to cheer, but in her free time she enjoys reading and hanging out with her family and dogs. Norton’s favorite genre to read is horror, but hates watching scary movies.
In addition, Norton is also in the Medical academy at JHS and is a part of HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America). In HOSA, Norton’s position as Vice President is to teach the students what competitions are like and how to be prepared.
“I either want to be an ER physician or surgeon, something in the field of trauma. I shadow a doctor at Jupiter Medical Center, so being there in the midst of everything and getting to see the very acute injuries is very interesting,” Norton said.
Norton dreams of attending Washington University in St. Louis or Yale in Connecticut. Even if Norton doesn’t get the chance to attend one of her top two colleges, she feels she would still love to go to University of Florida, University of Michigan or University of North Carolina.
