Maggie Herman is a diminutive teen, yet she’s strong enough to train younger girls in the art of horseback riding. She’s very social, too. As a senior at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, she’s on the staff of the student newspaper and yearbook and is Student Council vice president. But she’s also a Girl Scout “troop of one” as she puts it. She’s athletic — playing varsity basketball and running cross-country in track — but academics are her priority and she maintains a 3.92 GPA. She says, “I have high expectations of myself,” but also knows she “wants to help people.”
So who is this 17-year-old and what is it about her that qualifies her as this month’s Salute to Youth honoree?
According to Todd Clauer, college guidance director at HBHA, “Having known Maggie Herman for nearly seven years, there is little doubt that the grace and humility with which she has demonstrated each year has been a unique honor to witness. Maggie’s kind, attentive and happy exterior contributes to every situation she enters, while her fierce internal determination has helped her grow into an outstanding thinker and leader.”
Soft spoken, Maggie articulates her goals and passions. It’s not that she downplays her achievements — Girl Scout Gold, Silver and Bronze Award Winner, President’s Volunteer Service Award — four years in a row, National Honor Society, International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Certificate of Completion, academic letter and Wellesley College Book Award — she’s aware that it doesn’t tell her whole story.
Helping people is at the top of her list, which is why she applied to universities with strong pre-med programs. She also wanted schools that were “academically challenging, but not overwhelming.” She’s looking to “find the balance” between academics, maintaining a Jewish life on campus and yes, having fun! College applications, she said, were “the hardest thing I’ve ever done so far.” Since Maggie is close to her family — parents Mark and Vicki Herman and younger sister, Sarah, a sophomore at HBHA — the thought of going away to school next fall does concern her.
She loves KC and her grandparents live nearby — in Jefferson City, Mo., and Lincoln, Neb., “I don’t think there’s another community like it,” she says about Kansas City. “It’s close-knit and supportive.” But her ultimate goal is to become a doctor, so even though she’s been accepted to universities out of state, she hasn’t ruled out coming back to KC for additional training and a medical career.
Maggie also applied to schools that have large Jewish populations and strong Hillels, because her family’s involvement in Judaism is personally important to her. If she has any advice for her younger sister, who accompanied her on recent tours of college campuses, it’s this: “Take the opportunities presented to you. “You never know when an organization will help you learn more about what you could do in your future.”
She’s been to Israel three times — once with her extended family when she was in sixth grade, again on the HBHA ninth-grade trip and then on March of the Living, a trip that combines a week of Holocaust education and visits to concentration camps in Poland, followed by a week in Israel.
Despite the difficulty of seeing the camps and hearing horrific accounts from survivors, Maggie said the week in Israel was the “most fun” she’s ever had. Being there on Yom HaAztmaut (Israeli Independence Day), she could see that “everyone around me was happy. It was one of the most joyous events I have ever participated in,” she adds. “I don’t think I have even been prouder to be a Jew.”
She’s been at HBHA since first grade and an active participant at Beth Torah, where she was confirmed and still volunteers as a madricha (teacher’s assistant). “I like the support from students and teachers at HBHA,” Maggie notes, “Judaism is so important in my life and I enjoy learning about it.”
Maggie also feels great support from her family, and sees her mother as a role model. “She is one of the hardest working people I know. She knows how to get things done, but she does so with such grace. Watching her has really had an effect on the person I am today. She is also a great motivator and throughout the years has always pushed me to get involved and try new things.”
Because Judaism is so important to her, she makes going back to Herzl Camp year after year a high priority. Maggie had to choose between the Girl Scout’s Winding River Camp, where she’s been volunteering for years, and Herzl. While she’s no longer earning badges, she has served as a “wrangler in training” teaching safety around horses to younger Scouts, and then as a riding instructor, helping Scouts learn “horse skills.”
She’s been everything at Herzl — camper, OZO, C-I-T, and now counselor before she begins college. “I’ll be supervising a group in Tzofim — girls going into seventh and eighth grade,” she explains. Maggie says she’s also looking forward to “hanging out with my friends” from Herzl, Twin Cities girls she now considers “life-long friends.”
