Wheeler High School senior Xander Miller will pursue a double major in biology and economics when he attends Northeastern University in Boston later this year.
Staff/Jon-Michael Sullivan
Staff/Jon-Michael Sullivan
Miller, 17, who graduates today, will be pursuing a double major in biology and economics at Northeastern University in Boston, with hopes to be a professor some day.
“I’m leaning towards some sort of teaching,” he said. “The (Wheeler summer camps) are just some of the most fun weeks. It’s absolutely insane. It’s hectic trying to get 40 middle schoolers to sit down … (but) sharing knowledge and working with other people has really been so much fun.”
Miller helps with the camps’ chemistry, biology and biotechnology classes.
“I think that would be phenomenal,” said Dr. Tiffany Stark, Wheeler’s magnet program director, about the possibility of her student becoming a teacher. “I would hire him in a heartbeat if he came back to Wheeler. He’s always there to help. He has a knack for knowing what task needs to be done and doing it.”
“He’s the kind of kid that I know is going to go far and is always willing to step up and serve,” she said.
His leadership skills go outside the classroom: Miller is one of two drum majors for the Wildcat Pride Marching Band who direct more than 150 musicians.
“Biology is very focused — you have to have a method, and you have to be very meticulous about a lot of the stuff. Music is a nice antithesis to that,” he said. “It’s nice to have the counterpoint.”
Miller has been a member of the band all four years, playing the flute and piccolo.
While Miller has a lot on his plate — he is a member of the school’s robotics team, Odyssey of the Mind, Leadership Club, Habitat for Humanity and is an intern at the Georgia Tech Yen Lab for Biology — what keeps him really busy is Wheeler’s magnet program.
Miller heard about it in middle school and applied, even though his home is zoned for Pope High School.
“I convinced my parents (Susan Kreft and Mark Miller) to take me to the open house, because I’ve always been interested in science, and I was sold within about five minutes of stepping into the door,” he said.
Miller said he is going to spend his summer trying to find a job in a science lab, with plans to leave for Northeastern in August.
“I went up there for spring break, and I really fell in love with the campus,” Miller said. “Northeastern has really fantastic opportunities in (biology) and economics.”
And while he is a little bit nervous about heading off to college, Miller said he looks forward to the opportunities it will afford him.
“Everything I’ve ever wanted to be is very much a reaction to my parents,” he said. “Both of my parents were very much stuck in a cubicle, and … I never wanted to do that in my life.”
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I'd just like to make a slight addendum to this article to clarify something. My parents have been nothing but a positive influence on my life, and I am deeply saddened by how they are portrayed in this article.
My parents do both work in computer oriented fields, my dad an enterprise architect, my mother, a special projects consultant. They do work in offices, and for that, I cannot even begin to say how highly I regard them. Working in their fields does not interest me, and in some ways, my interest in biology is indeed partially reactionary to the so-called "hard" fields. My parents have always been the most supportive people in my life. They've always been there for me, and have never hesitated to push me to always do better. They've been the biggest influence in making me the person that I am today, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Xander Miller
Congratulations to you - and your parents - on all your successes at Wheeler and soon to be at Northeastern. You will be missed... can't wait to hear about your shining future!
Mrs. Fitz