Teen of the Week: Madeline Cramer

An only child, the 18-year-old graduated from South River High School in May and is attending her first week of classes at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Chatting a few days before her departure this summer, the Davidsonville resident noted, "Mom's excited I'm going away to college, but Dad will cry."

Her dad, Blake "Cappy" Cramer, is a member of the Naval Academy Band. He plays the vibraphone and piano. Nancy, her mom, is a stay-at-home parent.

The Cramer family lives on a 15-acre farm. "We have two dogs, Buddy and Fluffer, both pound puppies. We also have Sarah, a miniature horse, and Dolly the Donkey," said Maddie. "My grandmother lives on one side of our farm and cousins are on the other, making a combined 40-acres called Jazz Berry. We raise blackberries and raspberries."

Maddie has grown up caring for the livestock, harvesting the annual crops and helping with truck stand sales.

Until recently, her family also kept a trailer at a campground in Solomon's Island year round. The Cramers would head south to relax along the bay or hunt for dinosaur fossils a little further north in Calvert County.

"I'm going to Carnegie Mellon to study chemical engineering. I want to work with the health-related pharmaceutical industry. Carnegie Mellon is good for all engineering and computer sciences," she said. "I visited three times, but I got the feeling on the first visit that this was perfect. It's in the city. It's small, but it has a campus."

The teen received a Merit Scholarship to attend the university. And, no wonder.

"By the end of the senior awards ceremony at school this past May, I'm pretty sure Maddie was exhausted from going up for so many different achievements and recognitions," said Ryan Sackett, South River's Technology Education Department chair.

Maddie was out of her seat to receive the top math and top chemistry student awards, the couple merit scholarship awards and a Presidential Award for Academic Excellence.

A family friend, Spencer Peterson, observed the teen is "smart, studious and independent of mind."

Last summer, Maddie and 39 other girls nationwide were selected from a field of 400 applicants to attend the month-long Women's Technology Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "It's a program to help girls to become electrical engineers," she said.

Noting Maddie "is one of the more dynamic students I have encountered in my experience as an educator," Spanish instructor Jodie Hogan was pleased the Honors Spanish student furthered her studies with a 10-day educational tour in Costa Rica.

Of the MIT Women's Technology Program, Hogan said: "Madeline participated in extensive course work and learned how to apply various fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering and discrete mathematics to real world applications."

Maddie agreed. "They taught us all the basics. Since I did that program, I was inspired to join the Robotics Team at South River. I had been too scared to sign up before."

As a member of the team's electrical group, Maddie helped puzzle out the wiring of their various robotic competitors. During a regional match among area schools held in Washington, D.C., the South River Hawks won seventh place out of sixty teams. The team also brought home the Spirit Award and Engineering Innovation Award.

"Our robot driver, Matt Parangot, was awesome," Maddie said. "This year, the robotic teams played soccer, in honor of the World Cup. There were goals in each corner and our robot had to kick into the goals to score. We heard about the rules in January at a meeting at the Maryland Science Center. We had six weeks to brainstorm, design and build the robot."

Sackett observed Maddie during Robotics Team sessions. He said the teen often tutored teammates in courses with which they struggled. During a team "study in," he said, Maddie "studied for her AP Chemistry exam for almost eight hours straight. I didn't think that kids could sit still that long, but she told me she was determined to do well on the test."

Maddie's skills at marketing farm produce came in handy to the team.

According to "Speed," a.k.a. Paul E. Bellis, the Robotic Team mentor, "Maddie came up with several marketing and fundraising ideas that help net the team several thousand dollars to help ensure we were able to go to Atlanta for the world wide competition. One idea that was especially cool was 'flocking.' You take a flock of plastic pink flamingos and put them in someone's yard with the idea that they pay to move it to someone else's yard."

The teen was also a member of the South River Math Team. "It was fun and challenging," noted Maddie. "I'm a math person, but we got questions I'd never tackled before."

Another instructor, Tom Pitta, stated: "I don't know how she compares to other teenagers. I just know that Maddie Cramer is special. She's smart, courteous and polite. She is confident but humble. Socially conscious, she puts others needs before her own. She has a great sense of humor - she's always smiling."

Maddie worked two summers at the Navy Recreation Center on Solomon's Island, coordinating the children's activities inside and at the center's pool. This summer, she was a counselor at a two-week YMCA camp at Camp Whippoorwill in Pasadena, assisting in a Science, Technology, Engineering, Math program.

"The camp was for third- through sixth-graders. They were building a LEGO Mind Storm robot using a lesson plan from the Boys and Girls Clubs' program, LET'S GO. The kids built robots that could navigate a maze using various sensors or following voice commands programmed by the children. "It worked out better than the organizers hoped," said Maddie. "The kids loved it."

"Her role model as a young girl interested in chemical engineering was priceless for these young children in a robotics camp," said Ken Barsa, a county teacher and SPY Swim coach of 28 years. "Knowing the existing shortage of engineers in the U.S., specifically among women, her presence and background in engineering was a definite contribution."

He added: "She was always positive and looking for the good in all individuals, whether they were on task or not … an attribute rarely seen today. Maddie was persistent with children to succeed and never gave up on them."

When there was spare time, Maddie volunteered at the now-closed U.S. Fellowship, Inc. group homes in Annapolis. She raised funds and organized teams for two of the annual Relay For Life events in support of the American Cancer Society, held on the track over at South River. With youth at her family's church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, she helped raise awareness and funds participating in the Tents for Darfur event, held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Reflecting back on the STEM camp, Maddie said: "I love working with kids. It was great seeing them getting so excited about something that I enjoy."

Anyone may nominate a Teen of the Week. If you have a nomination, send it by e-mail to Wendi Winters at Teen@quantumstep.com.