Mitchell Lee, sophomore, aspires to play water polo at Stanford University when he graduates from MHS in 2016. Only one in seventeen kids get accepted to Stanford annually, making the odds not good compared to the average university.

Lee has been playing on the USA Olympic Development Team once a month for the entire weekend, his club team three times a week along with nine practices for the school team.

He currently is enrolled in some online courses to get them out of the way for college.

Lee had specific qualities that he saw in Stanford that drew his interest to the school.

“It’s a really good water polo school; it’s division one.” Lee said.

Lee wants to go into their engineering program that is one of the best in the country.

“They also have really good schooling, but now I sound like a nerd,” Lee said.

Lee has wanted to go to Stanford since he started playing water polo in the sixth grade. He made sure to take any classes that would pertain to engineering so he could get ahead.

“Basically whatever [classes] will get me into Stanford.  I have to take the hardest classes that I can,” Lee said.

Lee takes all of the non-required courses that he considers meaningless outside of school, such as taking Personal Fitness and Wellness during the summer and using the online courses to get ahead.

Lee said that he doesn’t really get homework from the online courses, saying that he finished the entire semester’s work in a week. Lee’s social life isn’t too controlled by his workload with water polo and school, because he has managed his time smartly.

“I have to prioritize my water polo and with work I just choose not to do it,” Lee said.