Lucy Wagner ’17

Attending City High for only her junior and senior years, Lucy Wagner was elected president of her class.

“I was very nervous about making friends, so I became really involved in student senate because I loved the people that joined the club,” Wagner said.

One thing that Wagner thought went well during her presidency was how Mr. Bacon and the City High faculty did a good job of listening to students ideas for improvement.

“I genuinely felt as though the work we did in our committees was translated into school policy,” Wagner said. “Being the class president, I had a unique opportunity to meet a lot of people in different clubs and extracurricular activities.”

The involvement that she had during her presidency is something that helped her after high school.

“I believe that the students that join student senate, and are actively involved, really do make an impact on our school, and will continue to make an impact in the world post-graduation. When I started applying for colleges, I won a lot of scholarships due to my involvement in student senate, so I am indebted to City for that,” Wagner said.

Currently, Wagner is a sophomore at St. Olaf College. She is majoring in chemistry and mathematics, and minoring in neuroscience and mathematical biology. She is also involved with various other activities at St. Olaf.

“I am president of Neuroscience Club, and I work in a neuroscience laboratory studying the retina and melanopsin systems,” Wagner said. “In addition, I am enrolled in ballet courses.
Back in Iowa City, I work in a Parkinson’s disease laboratory, which is a blast! This spring, I am studying abroad in Budapest to learn Hungarian and take a mathematics course.”

A large influence for Wagner was the faculty at City.

“I appreciate the effort that City High teachers make in connecting with their students and forming friendships. I adored my calculus teacher, Mr. Miller, which definitely had an impact on me wanting to pursue mathematics more. I also loved taking biology and physics!” Wagner said.

In her future Wagner would like to attend an MD/PhD program either at the University of Iowa or somewhere in the DC or Virginia area.

“Currently, I am thinking about doing residency in neuroscience and my PhD in either biomedical or electrical engineering, or something in the realm of computational/mathematical neuroscience,” Wagner said.