Anna Katherine Cates ('17) will be traveling to the United States Naval Academy this week to take part in the Summer STEM Program, hosted annually by the college. The rising Darlington junior will spend a week on campus in Annapolis, Md., where she will participate in a project-based STEM curriculum, working in laboratory facilities and attending field trips with students from around the country.
The session, which lasts June 15-19, includes a program prepared especially for rising eleventh-grade students.
“Anna Katherine remains very focused with all of the activities and sports that she is involved in—she stays right on track,” said Julia Dodd, Darlington’s AP Chemistry teacher. “She likes to do science, and she does it well.”
Dodd mentored Cates at the end of the 2014-15 school year to help the student choose and lay out an experiment required for entry into the Summer STEM Program. In her project, Cates investigated the buffering effect of citric acid in different citrus-flavored commercial products.
“Some students think that success should fall in their laps,” said Dodd. “Not Anna Katherine, she pursues excellence and goes after it.”
Acceptance into the Naval Academy’s competitive program is based on student achievement inside and outside of the classroom, community service involvement and geographic location, and is comprised of an extensive application process. The Summer STEM Program is aimed at encouraging high school students to expand their interests in and understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to possibly usher the participants towards a related career after college graduation.
The United States Naval Academy has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as having one of the top five best undergraduate engineering programs in the country.
“Everyone told us that the program would be hard to get into,” said Christi Cates, the student’s mother. “We feel that her experience at Darlington—the classes that she has taken, her teachers and their encouragement—has prepared her for this program, and we could not be more proud.”
At Darlington, the rising eleventh-grader has served on “Y” Cabinet and House Senate, and as an Admission Tiger Expert. The Rome native is a varsity cheerleader and also plays varsity soccer. Cates holds membership in the National Honor Society and Sociedad Honoraria Nacional (Spanish Honor Society). Earlier this year, she was named to the Headmaster’s List and was the recipient of the Class Scholarship Award for 10th grade.
Anna Katherine Cates is the daughter of Christi and Bruce Cates of Rome.
Click here for more information about the United States Naval Academy’s Summer STEM Program.
