Scholar Inspiration featuring Maya A. Bodnick
National Merit Scholarship Corporation
Recognizing and honoring the academically talented students of the United States.
"My generation is facing more challenges than ever as we enter our adult years, including threats to democracy, the climate crisis, and socioeconomic inequality," declares Maya Bodnick , Harvard University student and winner of a 2022 National Merit $2500 Scholarship. "I'm [pursuing] social studies to learn about these issues from a variety of lenses (from economics to anthropology). I hope that this knowledge can inform my work as a public servant trying to solve these problems." Maya hopes to bolster her understanding of contemporary sociopolitical issues at Harvard through intensive study of literature and politics, which are her two main interests. These subjects often overlap, and Maya shares an example of how a Humanities course at Harvard focuses on this intersection by assigning a “book a week from the American literary and political canon.” Maya has additional ambitions beyond the classroom, saying, "I also want to [work for political] campaigns, get involved with the undergraduate political organization the Institute of Politics, do radio sports announcing, and give tours."