Here’s One for the Books: Rosie Halpin
Rosie Halpin
School: The Lexington School
Grade: 8th
Sport: Tennis, swimming
Academics: Rosie is a Duke TIP qualifier and has been accepted into the Math-Science program at Dunbar High.
Parents: Hilary & Dermot
Given her voracious reading habits, you would think 14-year-old Rosie Halpin spends all day with her nose in a book.
Hardly.
She’s a budding model and an accomplished pianist who has played since she was 3.
She’s a student ambassador and treasurer of the Student Board at The Lexington School where she’s an eighth-grader.
She’s a competitive swimmer at the YMCA and on her neighborhood swim team. And she’s a state-ranked player in tennis, her primary sport.
Still, Rosie finds time to read just about everything in sight. In school, she has read many of the classics, including “Lord of the Flies.”
And at home, she has torn through the “Harry Potter” and “Hunger Games” series and read such adult titles as “Sarah’s Key.”
“I love reading and I’ll read just about anything,” she said. “It’s hard to find a book that I don’t like.”
Reading has paid off in the classroom. Rosie was a Duke TIP qualifier in seventh grade, and her ACT score ranked in the top 5% among her peers to qualify her for the Duke Academy of Summer Studies program that runs for three weeks this June.
A straight-A student, Rosie is remarkably versatile. Along with excelling in English and social studies classes, she is one of the top math-science eighth-graders in the city. She has earned a spot in the freshman class in the exclusive Math-Science program at Dunbar High.
At The Lexington School, she is one of only seven students in the school’s Chicago Math Class, where students cover four years of math in three years.
Before ninth grade, she will have completed algebra I and II and geometry.
“She has good natural ability, and she is organized, dedicated and self-driven,” her mother Hilary said about Rosie.
In tennis, Rosie defeated numerous opponents in a USTA national event in Louisville over Christmas, and last summer was the youngest member of the state champion Junior Team Tennis squad from Lexington Tennis Club.
Rosie is a dedicated but relaxed player.
“I’m there to enjoy myself,” she said. “I’m normally smiling and laughing and saying ‘good shot’ to my opponent.”
That same generosity of spirit is evident in her other tennis pursuit – the Smart Shots program started by Grace Trimble, a former Scholar Athlete (LFM, June 2010) from Winchester.
With Smart Shots, Rosie volunteers at Consolidated Baptist Church, serving as a tutor and tennis instructor to low-income elementary school children.
“This program is such a unique experience,” Rosie said. “I’m honored to be able to help them. It makes me realize how privileged I am to play tennis.”