Madison Higbee

Name: Madison Higbee

High School: Home Schooled

College (Current or Future): Georgia State University Honors College

Major/Intended Major: Psychology or Sociology

Financial Aid Program: Zell Miller Scholarship

Thanks to Dual Enrollment, Madison Higbee attended Kennesaw State during her senior year of high school and experienced a ‘wonderful transition’ between home-schooling and college courses.

“I felt like it was a bit different from being home-schooled, because it was a traditional classroom setting,” Higbee said in a Georgia State student spotlight. “I took a German course fall semester, and in that course I kind of felt like I was just sitting around because I knew a lot of German already.

“But that same semester, I took an honors statistics course, and I was working my butt off the whole time to keep up in that class. I ended up making an A, but it was a very challenging course.”

Higbee went on to earn the Zell Miller Scholarship, which provides full-tuition towards her education at Georgia State University (GSU) Honors College where she is finishing her freshman year.

“The award helps me to see that I, as an individual, can accomplish my goals through hard work,” Higbee said. “It’s also provided me and my family with financial freedom from college debt.”

That freedom allows the Ball Ground native to try “things out and (see) what I enjoy the most.”

Last summer, Higbee attended the Summer Teach-In at the Center for Civil and Human Rights and was chosen for the prestigious GSU Presidential Scholarship. This scholarship is presented to students accepted to the Honors College with a commitment to service.

“My biggest passions are social justice and human rights,” said Higbee. “I am looking for a career that will enable me to better understand human nature and to find ways to equalize society and help people get along.”

The advice she wants to share with fellow students is to work hard and challenge yourself daily.

“As you prepare for college, try to envision yourself as a character in a story, evaluate how your character has evolved, but also what core values have stayed the same. Then, as you apply to college, you will have a better idea of how to convey who you are.”