Mackenzi Sizemore remembers the disappointment she felt when she wasn’t selected for the honors program as a seventh-grader at Indian Creek Middle School.
Looking back, not being selected for the program helped shape who she is today, Sizemore said
“I think it gave me motivation and helped me understand the importance of hard work,” she said. “I was definitely more motivated than I was hurt. I’m a disciplined person who set a goal and really wanted to achieve it.”
Sara Downing, a language arts teacher at the middle school, also remembers teaching Sizemore in seventh grade when she wasn’t selected for the program.
“She was so frustrated, and she worked so hard on anything and everything I gave her. She just wanted excellence. In everything. I’ve never had a student who was that determined,” Downing said.
Her 4.802 grade-point average has earned her honor of valedictorian of Indian Creek High School’s senior class of 171 students. Sizemore also played basketball for four years at Indian Creek, was president of the senior class, vice president of National Honor Society, a 10-year member of 4-H and a volunteer at Johnson Memorial Hospital.
Like most of her classmates, Sizemore has always been at Indian Creek Schools. The speech she’ll deliver at commencement is her way of saying goodbye before attending Indiana University as a business and technology management major.
Sizemore loved attending Indian Creek schools because of the size of the schools and closeness she could have with her teachers.
“I have an actual name to them,” she said. “I like that it’s small enough where I can approach my teachers, get to know them and know what kind of person they are. I like the relationships.”
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Name: Makenzi Sizemore
Age: 18
Parents: Darin and Valerie Lange
Residence: Morgantown
GPA: 4.802
College: Indiana University
Major: Business and technology management
Career goals: “I want to work at a top business company doing consulting with business and technology and how they are intertwined in that atmosphere.”
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