Student riding off to bright future

Where others balk, Angela Lockhart isn't nervous at all. She's been under the lights before.

Recently, the senior at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany spoke in front of a packed auditorium as salutatorian of the Class of 2003.

For Angela, Bishop Maginn offered more than an education. She saw it as an opportunity to speak up, stand out and come forward.

High school years

It was a farewell filled with good memories for Angela. She recalled days crammed with lectures, classes, homework, play rehearsals, student council meetings, friendships and incessant laughter.

She was honored for her service work to the school as much as for her excellent grades. She co-founded a peer tutoring program, helped update the school's decades-old student council constitution, held leading roles -- twice -- in school musicals and was elected student council president in her senior year.

"You'd go to school and come back here after dinner for play practice, and you'd do that 12 or 15 hours a week," she said.

Filling the hours

It was an exhausting schedule, but a fulfilling one, said the self-described overachiever. "I think that if I didn't have every hour filled, I'd get bored. And there's so much to be learned."

Angela learned the value of work at an early age from her mother, a single parent, who "worked hard to make a wonderful life for my sister and me," she said.

As she looks ahead to Manhattan College for pre-med studies in the fall, she speaks about her commitment to work as hard as her mother and make the most of her college experience.

"I hope that someday I'll be able to give back what she gave me," she said. "I have a hunger to take in so much, and that field will allow me to keep learning. New York City is the easiest way to see the world. And I love science. My mom says I'd make a good lawyer, but nothing else really ever caught my eye. I want to do what I love -- and that's healing."

Pluses of Maginn

Although she's always had to go to public school, Angela felt that Maginn's small size and acceptance of religion suited her. She welcomed being able to talk about faith freely in school halls, attend theology class and "lead an everyday Catholic life."

It bothered her to witness gossiping, insults and ill-will among some classmates.

"What Jesus did, He did through teaching other people and being an example for them," she said. "Catholics should be non-judgmental. Catholic means universal, and 'love your neighbor' means everyone."

In the saddle

On Saturday mornings, indulges her fancy for horseback riding at a local stable.

"Sometimes, people get the impression that I'm a 'Miss Proper,'" Angela said. "A lot of people don't know that I ride horses, and like getting my t-shirt and boots on."

She favors unpredictable, mercurial horses whose feisty temperaments -- and occasional refusal to follow a rider's directions -- keep them from being shown or ridden in competition. But she rides for fun, not for ribbons.

"There's a challenge there," she said. "They keep you on your toes. I hate getting on a horse that will go when you tell them to go all the time. That's not the nature of a horse."

Although she considers herself a leader, Angela notes that it sometimes seems to outsiders that riding horses -- dependency on an animal -- is completely opposite to her pride in her independence. But she said that's not true.

"You have to build a relationship with the horse," she explained. "You need to give up your need for control. You have to give up the pressure. If I have a bad ride, I have to let go. I've learned patience from horses. You can't feel scared or nervous. They'll pick up on it. That has helped me; it provides a lot of freedom."

(6/12/03) [[In-content Ad]]