PA senior Maren Baxley was recently accepted into the University of Virginia, marking a major milestone in a high-pressure year defined by her leadership as Student Council Association (SCA) president and her commitment as a multi-sport athlete.
The acceptance comes as Baxley navigates the final stretch of a demanding academic career with the International Baccalaureate program. As the face of student leadership and a veteran of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams, Baxley has spent her high school years balancing rigorous grading scales with the chaotic responsibility of organizing major school events.
Baxley expects to hear back from nearly 20 more colleges in March, but with a UVA acceptance already in hand, her plan to major in Biochemistry on a Pre-Med track is well underway.
“I think getting involved is something that’s pretty manageable to do,” Baxley said. “It gives you really good relationships with the faculty. I know everyone in the front office… it’s a good way to network.”
For Baxley, the path to leadership began at Old Donation School, but her role truly took shape when she joined the SCA during her sophomore year at PA. Since then, she has become a fixture of school spirit, even running the GLOW (Global Girls Leading Our World) club during her junior year to empower young women.
According to Baxley, despite her high-profile roles, her daily routine is surprisingly easygoing. She wakes up just 20 minutes before she has to leave for school and uses her morning time to get ready and mentally prepare herself for the day ahead of her. Instead of blasting music, she drives in total silence to ground herself before facing a schedule that includes various AP classes and honor society meetings.
However, that calm disappeared during homecoming week, which Baxley described as “the most stressful week” of her life. During that time, her commitment to the school took over completely, often requiring her to stay on campus from around 6:30 a.m. to nearly 11 p.m. to ensure the festivities run smoothly.
“It’s so much work and you have to plan everything,” Baxley said, recalling the exhaustion of managing Homecoming hallways and events while also serving on the Homecoming Court this year. She continued, “I just remember my sophomore year doing that for the first time and being like, ‘this is the most insane thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.’“ She noted that despite the stress, the senior class sponsors, Camilla Walck and Kelly Boyd, were “amazing and helped out a lot.”
Baxley credits her success to the very thing that makes her schedule so full: sports. A field hockey player since age seven and a lacrosse player since her sophomore year, she finds that having a packed calendar actually helps her academically. “I honestly perform better during my seasons of sports, academically, because it’s a way for me to time-manage,” Baxley explained.
While she holds herself to a higher standard in field hockey due to her years of experience, she views the current lacrosse season as a “building year.” After the team lost 12 seniors last year, Baxley is one of only three seniors left to lead the squad under the direction of the new head coach, Megan Bradley.
As she prepares to trade her high school jersey for a future in medicine, Baxley’s focus remains on the community she helped to build. Her biggest piece of advice for the underclassmen following in her footsteps is to simply show up. “It’s my pet peeve when we’re doing a pep rally or spirit days, and no one does anything,” Baxley explained as she encouraged people to get involved. She remarked, “Just do it. In high school, you really get the opportunity to join whatever you want.”
