Maya Patel, a senior at Freedom High in Tampa Palms, has already graduated.
From college.
When she graduates again, as Freedom’s Class of 2016 valedictorian on Wednesday, June 8, 9 a.m., at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, it will just be the icing on the cake.
Maya is one of many exceptional students in the New Tampa area, but the Tampa Palms resident makes a strong case for being at the top of that list.
She is graduating with an 8.6 weighted grade-point-average, believed to be the highest ever at Freedom.
And, she already has an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree with highest honors in Business Management from Hillsborough Community College. She also was president of five clubs at Freedom.
She even started a nonprofit organization with her best friend, Milan Shah (see below), dedicated to donating used books across the globe.
While she will attend the University of Tampa in the fall, declining opportunities to attend, among others, the prestigious University of Cambridge — the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world — and Kings College of London, England.
And, get this – Maya says she still found time to have some fun in high school. “Of course, of course,’’ she says, laughing. “High school is not just about academics; it’s also about fun. I have done Indian dance (called Bhangra) since I was five, and I did typical high school things like movies and the mall. I always made time for fun.”
And sleep, she says. Maya says that despite her many responsibilities, she always got 7-8 hours of sleep a night, even after she added a part-time job at Taco Bell to her already busy schedule.
She says it’s pretty simple, really — use a calendar, make lists and just follow them.
Cheryl Bernales, Maya’s Latin teacher and World Language Department head at Freedom, as well as an American Government honors teacher, thinks the secret might be more about math than lists.
“I don’t know how she does it, but she does seem to have found a few extra hours in a day,’’ Bernales says.
The only child of V.C. and Nila Patel, pharmacists with the Suncoast Community Health Center in Palm River, Maya says she never set out to be the class valedictorian. She did, however, want to be in the top 10 percent.
But, once she started taking dual enrollment and AP classes, “I realized my level of rigor was pretty competitive.”
Her initial goal, laid out with intricate planning, was to graduate with her A.A. degree from HCC, which she did on May 6. Then, she added Class Valedictorian to her to-do list.
Her sophomore and junior years were the toughest, she says, as the classes and assignments could pile up at times, causing a few brief moments of self-doubt.
“I felt at those times that I needed to keep going on,’’ Maya said. “Such a big thing like valedictorian doesn’t come easily. So, I would get a snack and a drink, and get back at it.”
Maya had no idea who else was close to valedictorian status. When she found out her closest competitor was good friend Junie Kim, who had gone to school with Maya at both Chiles Elementary and Liberty Middle School, she was thrilled.
“Had it been anyone else, I would have also been happy for them, but it was even sweeter that it was a friend,” Maya says.
Maya credits her parents for being “pillars of support” in her academic quests. She says they never pressured her, and only encouraged her to reach the goals that she had set for herself.
Those goals now include becoming the first dentist in her family. At the University of Tampa, which she chose in part because of its “positive vibe” and proximity to her Tampa Palms home, she will study biochemistry and work towards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, while trying to get into a top dental school.
She also will continue to help run MSMPC (her registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit), which stands for Milan Shah Maya Patel Collaboration, in the fall of 2014.
The two fell in love with reading at a young age, and over a discussion about what to do with their old books, hatched a plan to donate them, as well as others they would collect.
The MSMPC has donated more than 4,000 books in less than two years to places ranging from local community centers to Zambia, India, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The organization also has partnered with Books For Africa to donate more than 2,000 books.
Maya admits it all sounds like a lot for an 18-year-old to juggle. But, she loves it.
“I don’t understand where she gets all this time,’’ Bernales says, “but she’s always positive, always high energy and never comes to school like it’s a burden or a task. She goes all out and does her absolute best job on everything, and does it with a smile on her face.”
If you want to contribute books to Maya’s nonprofit, please visit MSMPC.weebly.com.
In 1985, she and her husband had purchased tickets through her church to visit Rome to see Pope John Paul II speak during Lent. But, when her marriage fell apart abruptly, she told the priest at her church she had to give up her seat; that he should give it to someone who couldn’t afford to go.
