Overview
Notable Achievements
Service
Adventure
Music
Languages
Research

Overview

The 545 students who enter Carleton in September 2005 number 264 men and 281 women. They were selected from a pool of 5,036 applicants and represent 45 states and 22 countries.

• 7 percent come from countries outside of the United States.
• 71 percent graduated in the top tenth of their class—88.5 percent were in the top fifth.
• 12 percent are the first generation of their families to attend college.
• 24 percent are African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino/Chicano, or Native American.
• 92 are National Merit Scholars, 9 are National Hispanic Recognition Scholars, and 1 is a National Achievement Scholar.
• 13 percent speak a language other than English at home.

Notable Achievements

The class has undertaken an impressive array of endeavors in its pre-Carleton days.
Someone in the class:

• Was first in state 4-H dairy judging.
• Played the violin in the All-State, All-Eastern and National Festival Orchestras.
• Was an All-State and All-American swimmer and All-State water polo player.
• Won first place at a regional Intel Science Fair Competition in computer science (twice!).
• Is a second degree navy blue belt in Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan (a traditional Korean martial art) and placed second at a recent national tournament.
• Raised $5,000 to buy a “heifer ark” to fight hunger by delivering 50 farm animals to families around the world.
• Was a production assistant for NBC Sports.
• Published poetry in Teen Ink magazine and the International Library of Poetry.
• Walked 500 miles in France and Spain.

Service

The Class of 2009 includes:

• 16 Eagle Scouts.
• Five Girl Scout Gold or Silver Award recipients.
• Three 4-H Club Leaders.
• In addition, someone in the class raised $50,000 for relief efforts in Sierra Leone.

Adventure

The Class of 2009 includes remarkably adventurous students who have:

• Worked on a conservation project with cutthroat fish.
• Spent a summer at the Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome.
• Lived in a national forest for a month working on restoration projects.
• Traveled to Alaska to assist the Tlingit Tribe.
• Served as a crew member on a sailing trip from Venezuela to Texas.
• Studied or performed community service in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Music

Strike up the band because someone in the class plays:

• bass guitar, cello, clarinet, drums, euphonium, flute, french horn, handbell, harmonica, highland bagpipe, guitar, kayagum, mandolin, mellophone, oboe, percussion, piano, recorder, saxophone, string bass, Tibetan string instruments, trombone, trumpet, viola, and violin.

Someone is a member of:

• Asia Pacific Activities Conference Orchestra, Chicago Youth Symphony, Cork Youth Orchestra, DC Youth Orchestra, Gangnamgu Youth Symphony, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Seattle Junior Youth Symphony, and the Top Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Languages

Someone in the class speaks: Akan, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Chinese, Danish, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Malay, Mandarin, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Telgu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Vietnamese, and Wolof.

Research

While in high school, members of the class have conducted impressive research projects. Someone has:

• Received a best project award at the National Intel Science Fair for her biochemistry research involving the preparation of an herbal solution to enhance the nutrient uptake of the body.
• Participated in a NIH funded project titled "Antitumor Drugs That Bind the DNA Minor Groove".
• Researched fertility cycles of the olive baboons in Gombe National Park in Tanzania.
• Conducted marine research involving phytoplankton and benthic zooplankton at the Darling Marine Center (Maine).