Madison Masters the Art of School & Sports
Madison Mitchell
School: Sayre School
Grade: 12th
Sport: Basketball, soccer
Academics: Madison is a National Art Honor Society member, editor of the school yearbook and has a 3.5 GPA.
Parents: Beth & Sam
Don’t blame Sayre School senior Madison Mitchell for making Tennessee her college choice – it had nothing to do with athletics.
A 1,000-point scorer and MVP of the Sayre basketball and soccer teams, Madison roots for UK and could have played in college.
But her choice had everything to do with Tennessee’s excellent art and design programs.
Madison, 18, carries a 3.5 GPA, has taken two AP classes and is a member of the National Honor Society. More importantly to her, she is also a member of the National Art Honor Society.
“I really like the art teachers at Sayre,” said Madison, who has taken painting, drawing and 3-D art classes and plans to study interior design at Tennessee.
“I’m jealous of their art program at Sayre,” said Madison’s mother Beth, who has worked as an interior designer. “They do neat things there.”
Madison’s street scene painting was displayed at the New Editions Gallery in Lexington, and her favorite piece was a 6-foot fork sculpture with papier-mache pasta wrapped around it.
She also worked with clay and made jewelry at Sayre and plans to load up at Tennessee with art classes.
She’ll do well in academics, too. Madison is an avid reader – school favorites are “The Great Gatsby” and “All the King’s Men,” and she has whipped through “The Hunger Games” trilogy.
She has combined her verbal and design skills as the editor of the Sayre yearbook.
“I’m excited about our design theme, which is to make the yearbook look like a brochure you see on a hiking trail,” she said.
And every night, Madison beats a trail to her schoolwork with no prompting from her parents.
“She works hard and has learned to use her time wisely,” her mother said.
Along with her busy sports, academic and yearbook schedule, Madison serves on the school’s Title IX committee to make sure equity exists between boys and girls sports at Sayre.
Of course, Madison worked to eliminate equity on the soccer field and basketball court, doing her best to dominate the opposition.
In soccer, she was the team MVP last season, and was a team captain and an all-district selection as a junior and senior.
In basketball, she was a four-year starter and scored more than 1,200 points. No. 1,000 came in a victory over West Jessamine.
She also was team captain the past two seasons, an All-City second-team selection and has been invited to try out for the state all-star team.
“She is very competitive and determined,” her mother Beth said. “She takes control and encourages her teammates.”
Sounds like an ideal scholar-athlete.