Math-Science Whiz Gets With the (Computer) Program

Alyssa Montgomery

• School: Dunbar High
• Grade: 12
• Sports: Soccer
• Academics: Alyssa has a 4.84 weighted GPA, scored 33 on the ACT and has taken nine A.P. classes.
• Parents: Lisa & Eric

How many All-State soccer players have already programmed their own photo editing software? At the top of that short list sits 17-year-old senior Alyssa Montgomery of Dunbar High.

Alyssa is a math-science whiz with a 4.84 weighted GPA, who scored 33 on the ACT and has taken nine A.P. classes.

In her advanced computer science class, she programmed a Super Mario like video game and photo editor software that works like Photoshop.

Three times, Alyssa has won medallions for being the school’s top student in a class and has won awards in calculus, physics, computer science and statistics.

And she’s not some science nerd with no other interests. She has won leadership awards and an essay contest, plays the drums, volunteered at LYSA’s TOPSoccer program, is a peer tutor at school and has helped launch a fund-raiser patterned after UK’s Dance Blue event.

She managed all that while leading Dunbar this season to its first Regional championship and a trip to the State tournament. How does she find the time?

“She’s an excellent time manager,” her mother Lisa said. “She’s organized, a hard worker and gets her work done right away.”

Said Alyssa: “As soon as we get our assignments, I start in class. If I have free time, I’m getting my work done.”

She also got a lot done on the soccer field. As a center midfielder, she scored 12 goals and had 17 assists this season, twice scoring the only goal in Dunbar wins.

In Select soccer, she played for the Javanon team in Louisville that has won five state championships. She won two others playing for her Lexington FC team.

Next season, she will play at Division I Tennessee Tech, which also has an excellent computer science program.
Captain of the Dunbar team, Alyssa is a leader.

As a sophomore on Senior Night, she drew a penalty on the goalie and gave the PK to a senior who won the game. “I loved the seniors on that team,” Alyssa said.

As a junior, she was injured in the first game of the season and Coach Tom Morgan made her a de facto assistant coach.

“I saw how he handled the team and he would take me aside at halftime to ask my opinion about strategy. It made me want to be a coach some day,” she said.

Maybe. But she might have to manage that with a programming job at a major Silicon Valley company.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Nominate Your Scholar Athlete