Waubonsee grad is top student, top runner

SUGAR GROVE – Amanda Lesak of Sugar Grove always has had goals and – literally – ran with them.

Lesak, 19, was one of the top five cross country runners while attending Kaneland High School.

She ran track as well, qualifying for state.

After graduation in 2013, she went to Waubonsee Community College on a cross country athletic scholarship, going on to place 34th in the NJCAA national championships in 2014.

During her two years at Waubonsee, she was an anatomy and physiology tutor, conducted an independent research project in an honors course, joined the clubs Delta Sigma Omicron, Future Health Care Providers Club, and worked to get the Christian Athletes as an official club at the school.

Lesak will graduate with her associate degree Thursday. She is in the process of deciding whether to go to the University of Illinois or Truman State University in Missouri to study in a health care-related field as a nurse practitioner or occupational therapist.

“My main goal is to help people,” Lesak said. “I can’t go wrong with either one.”

She has to decide between the two schools before June 1, she said.

“The Truman coach offered me a spot to run on his team,” Lesak said.

Lesak also was offered scholarships to both universities – just as she was as a high school graduate. But because of finances, Lesak lived at home and attended Waubonsee.

She praised Waubonsee’s academic program, saying it prepared her to continue her education with confidence.

“In high school, a lot of people look down on Waubonsee because some students will go there not knowing what they wanted to do or because they could not get into a university,” Lesak said. “I was a little defiant because I had to go there for financial reasons.”

Instead, she found a wealth of opportunity to expand her academics, athletics and other experiences, Lesak said.

“I never thought Waubonsee – a small school five minutes from my house – would have offered so many experiences and build me into the individual I am today,” Lesak wrote in an email.

“You have to make your own experience. I took the initiative to join clubs and sports. It opened so many doors for me,” she added. “I got a great education there.”

Melissa Forte, Lesak’s academic counselor at Waubonsee, said Lesak “is an exceptional individual in and out of the classroom.”

“She was a tutor to other students on campus, and she excelled just as well in her sport,” Forte said. “I think she really blossomed and found her way academically within her field.”

Lesak also won the Student-Athletes Taking Academic Responsibility – or STAR – award, Forte said, which measures an athlete’s academic integrity both in the classroom and within their sport.

“She was an easy choice this year,” Forte said.