"We Should love people and use things, not use people and love things"
Her name was Kathryn Stauffer . She was the 2001 valedictorian of Quakertown Community High School in Quakertown PA. She was a sophomore at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA where she majoring in Pre-Med/Psychology. She hoped to earn an MD/PhD in genetics after leaving Swarthmore. Her love of academics and her desire to swim made Swarthmore the perfect fit. She once remarked she could not imagine herself anywhere else. The web site "Teen Help" was a graduation project for which she received the President's Student Service Award.
In her spare time she liked to read books, sometimes as many as 25-30 books a week, play the piano which she studied for 13 years, and draw/paint. She also enjoyed working with clay on the potters wheel. She was a kind and gentle spirit who spread her kindness everywhere. She was the happiest person on the face of the earth. Her wish was "I hope that someday something I do will make a difference.
Visit Katie's Memorial Site
Awards Received
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National Deans List, Swarthmore College 2003
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Valedictorian QCHS 2001
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National Merit Scholar Commendation
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WPVI-TV 6 "Best of the Class 2001"
Award
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Comcast Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship
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American Chemical Society Certificate
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Bausch and Lomb Science Medal
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Dr. Belle Neiman-Mease Memorial Award
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President's Education Award
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President's Student Service Award
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QCSHS Departmental Award- English 12 AP
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QCSHS Departmental Award- Honors Pre- Calculus (11)
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Quakertown P.A.G.E. Scholarship
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Society of Women Engineers Certificate
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PHEAA Certificate of Merit
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Lehigh Valley Organ Donor Awareness Award 1999 & 2000
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Distinguished Honor Roll 24 consecutive times ( grades 9-12)
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AP Scholar with Honors
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John Marshall Scholarship @ F&M
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Jacob Albright Scholarship @ Albright College
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Swarthmore College Scholar Athlete
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Athletic Awards
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MVP Quakertown High School Swim Team
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Bronze Medal 50 Free 2001 Championships
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District 1 Suburban League All Team honorable mention swimming
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Upper Bucks YMCA- League
Record 50 Free
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Penn Del League
Girls B-North( 2001)
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Swarthmore College 200 Free Relay record(2001)
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Gold Medal 200 Free Relay(2002 and 2003)
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Centennial Conference Champions 2001 and 2002
The Centennial Conference recognizes Katie Stauffer
Swarthmore College 2003 Women's Swimming First-Team All-Conference 200 Free Relay
Swarthmore College
Eleanor Keighton Memorial Award
to
Katie Stauffer
Awarded to the woman who best exemplifies the spirit of amateur sports and competition through personal dedication, tenacity, active support and encouragement to the team.
Swarthmore
College News, March 2003
Essay by Katie...
It's not easy being a teen! Everything is changing; school is harder, your parents expect more of you, society demands more of you, your body just isn't you anymore and the ways of the world aren't as easy to figure out as they once were. The boys who used to make you cringe now make you worry about the way your hair looks; the girls you once teased now render you speechless. You worry about the world and the people who live in it. You think about your future and if you will live up to your parents expectations. You start to crave the "freedoms" of adulthood but aren't yet ready to surrender the "securities" of childhood.
There are so many questions and concerns - to smoke or not to smoke, to drink or not to drink, to have sex or stay a virgin? You wonder and worry about; love, lust, religion, sexuality, drugs, friends, enemies, PSAT & SAT scores, grade point averages, scholarships, athletics, the shape of your body, the style of your hair, the state of your wardrobe, peer pressure, parental pressure, violence in the media, violence at school, violence in the home, life after high school, life in general, what to do with your life... the list goes on. Being a teen seems like a never-ending cycle of uncertainty.
What sometimes gets lost in all the confusion is the plain and simple fact that the teen years are the best years of your life. You can be anything you want to be, achieve whatever you set your mind to, your dreams are still possibilities. No matter what else people say about being a teen, one thing is true, it is full of promise. There is no other time in your life when you will be able to explore and experience the world while still being able to retreat to the safety of youth. At this point in the game, anything is possible! The trick is to keep sight of this fact in the face of the intense changes you will go through.
It is easy to get trapped in the moment, to worry about popularity and dating and whom you are associated with. What isn't easy is muddling through your teens with the big picture in mind. It doesn't really matter if you are cool or smart, athletic or mechanical, a partier or a loner. What matters is how you come through it all. When the teen years are behind you it isn't as important that you have no regrets, as it is that you learn from the ones you do have. Being a teen is about making mistakes with a security net. It is about testing the waters of life before diving in. It is about overcoming the things that make you cry, defeating the demons that haunt your psyche, and emerging a happy person - however you turn out. Most importantly; sometimes, being a teen is about NOT worrying what your future holds and enjoying the moment for all its promise and wonder.
Kathryn Stauffer 2000
Visit Katie's Teen Help Website
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