ISS Senior Named Shelby County College Track Student of the Year

ISS senior Tara Markert ’14 has been named College Track Student of the Year by the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.

Markert, who is an AP Scholar with Distinction and National Merit Commended Student, received the recognition on April 30 at the Chamber’s 2013-14 Student and Educator of the Year Awards Ceremony held at the Pelham Civic Center and Ice Arena. Markert has excelled in academics, student leadership, art, volunteer work, and scientific research. Her project “Cytochrome C Oxidase in Malignant Glioma” advances to the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

The awards, which also honored a Career Track Student of the Year, Elementary Educator of the Year, and Secondary Educator of the Year, were created this year to recognize excellence in Shelby County classrooms. ISS Science Teacher Lisa Balazs was a finalist for Secondary Educator of the Year.

“Tara is an exceptional student, and we are delighted that she has been recognized in this way for her remarkable and varied achievements,” says ISS Director Gareth Vaughan.

In summer 2011, Markert worked part-time in the UAB Biomedical computer lab on a program designed to project a translucent 3-D object in real time to aid in emergency medical procedures for 3rd-world countries without access to surgical specialists. In summers 2012 and 2013, she worked full-time in the UAB Cancer Center Lab, using procedures like PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction, a technology used to amplify DNA sequences) and western blots (a technique used to identify proteins) with genetic engineering on proteins to aid in brain tumor treatment for glioblastoma. Markert investigated increasing the sensitivity of gliomas to temozolomide (TMZ), the drug commonly used in their treatment. The lab had previously shown that TMZ sensitivity correlates to cytochrome c oxidase activity; Markert’s experiments identified drugs that could possibly increase survival by lowering this activity.
 
She presented her findings at the UAB Undergraduate Exposition and at the UAB Cancer Center Retreat, and in March 2014, she won 1st place in Medicine (Senior Division) at the Central Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair. She is also co-author of a paper currently being prepared for submission for peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation or the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
 
In addition to her research, Markert is an award-winning artist, having received a Regional Gold Key for her painting “Reverie” in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She is also active in student government, having served as Commissioner of Education as a junior and senior and currently serving on the student-elected Judiciary and as Mayor of the student body. She participated in the Birmingham Youth Leadership Forum as a sophomore and was nominated by ISS faculty members to attend Auburn University’s High School Leadership Conference as a junior. She is also a teacher-selected academic tutor.
 
Her volunteer activities include the ISS Key Club, the ISS Amnesty International Club, and Habitat for Humanity Club. She is current Club Co-Head of each of these. She is also active in the community, working weekly with pre-adolescent children on character/community building in disadvantaged communities and with Baha’i youth in Sunday School classes. As a junior, Markert led a monthly psycho-educational/emotional support group dealing with issues of concern to pre-adolescent girls (bullying, peer pressure, body image, etc.) over a semester.
 
In her spare time, she enjoys karate (green belt) and takes Farsi (modern Persian language) classes. She has also designed a number of websites (wackynanny.com; drlailimarkert.com; birminghambahai.org; issrobotics.weebly.com). She will attend Harvard University in the fall.
 
Congratulations to Tara!
 
 
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190 Woodward Drive, Indian Springs, Alabama 35124
Phone: 205.988.3350
Indian Springs School, an independent school recognized nationally as a leader in boarding and day education for grades 8-12, serves a talented and diverse student body and offers admission to qualified students regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Located in Indian Springs, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, the school does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.

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