Meredith Lynn Harper, a 17-year-old senior at Thompson High School, is Shelby County Reporter Student of the Week.

Marilyn Pickett, senior counselor at THS, recommended her for the honor.

&8220;I have known Meredith since she entered high school, and as her counselor, I have been impressed with her maturity and unassuming personality as well as her academic prowess,&8221; Pickett said.

She noted that Meredith has been selected as a National Merit Finalist, a candidate for Presidential Scholar and is often praised by her teachers for her work ethic in the classroom.

She has taken honors and advanced placement classes while participating in extracurricular activities such as theater and band. She has been on the varsity Scholars&8217; Bowl team all four years of high school and has been team captain since the 10th grade.

&8220;Meredith is a versatile as well as gifted student,&8221; Pickett said.

&8220;While being thought of by many of her friends at school as a science and math whiz, Meredith is a percussionist in the band, is writing a novel at home and plays the piano for her church.

&8220;Furthermore, Meredith has maintained the highest grades in her class (4.34) while being seen by her classmates as a friendly &8216;All-American girl.&8217;

&8220;Meredith is a young woman of character and is ready with a smile on every occasion,&8221; Pickett continued.

Pickett said Meredith received the Daughter of the American Revolution Good Citizenship Award for Central Alabama and was third runner-up in the state DAR essay competition.

&8220;Meredith will be an asset to whatever college she attends. She will bring her brilliant mind but also bring her caring heart.

&8220;She will excel while she is there and will touch the lives of both students and faculty as she has done here.&8221;

Meredith is the only child of Linda and Lindsay Harper and the granddaughter of Thomas and Velma Crowley, Horace Harper Sr. and Shelby King.

She said her favorite subject in school is English.

&8220;I love to read and I love to write,&8221; Meredith said. &8220;I enjoy my other subjects, but English is what gets me fired up the most.&8221;

Meredith said in the 10th grade she wrote a novel in connection with a conference at the University of Montevallo.

She said the novel wasn&8217;t great, but

she took it from start to finish.

Now, she said, she is keeping a journal and already has a movie soundtrack in mind for another novel.

The idea for this novel is a young person taking a road trip from the West Coast to Chicago. Meredith said the novel involves a realistic route one could travel.

While Meredith was reluctant to name a favorite teacher, one of her favorites, she recalled, was a sixth grade English and history teacher at Homer Pittard Campus School that was located across the street from Middle Tennessee State University.

She said the teacher&8217;s name was Jeff Duke.

&8220;He was real cool. We did like a

renaissance fair in his class,&8221; Meredith said.

In addition to honors already mentioned, Meredith won the Thompson High School Martin Luther King Essay.

She enjoys reading, writing and music and plays the piano on her own in addition to playing keyboard percussion in the band. She also enjoys roller-skating.

Meredith said her parents are her superheroes.

&8220;They have both done so much. I have a new appreciation of how much they have sacrificed or me. It&8217;s hard sometimes to express how thankful you are.&8221;

Meredith said he wants to write for her career, working as a journalist or as a screenwriter.

Meredith plans to attend college. And while she said she is keeping her options open right now, she is looking at the University of Alabama