Austin is a global traveler and a believer in Mark Twain’s assertion that “travel is fatal to prejudice.” For Austin, learning languages is not about novelty. It is both enriching and respectful.

 

Austin joined the High Meadows community in fifth grade, moved to Germany halfway through sixth grade, and then returned in seventh grade to complete his Middle Years education. During this period of constant transition, High Meadows became both an anchor and a launchpad.

 

“High Meadows took me in,” Austin shared. “They celebrated my uniqueness, gave me a strong friend group, and surrounded me with teachers who invested real love and attention into every student.” Teachers like Mr. Hendry and Ms. Woodby taught Austin lessons he continues to carry with him, not just academically, but personally.

 

Austin graduated from High Meadows with the three pillars to his success: curiosity, self-confidence, and intrinsic motivation. Thereby shaping the way, he approaches learning and life to this day. He explains that, “In fifth grade, teachers give you answers. By eighth grade, they start giving you better questions, nothing is ever cut and dried. You’re encouraged to keep digging.” That encouragement did not just preserve his curiosity. It trained it.

 

Despite graduating from a university with a highly competitive acceptance rate, Austin is not motivated by grades. Instead, he is driven by what he calls “a willingness to ask questions with answers that are hard to track down.” His curiosity allows him to thrive as the President of the GT Invention Lab and now as he figures out how to build himself a 5-terabyte home server.  Austin’s time at the Invention Studio at Georgia Tech when he said, “Mom I gotta run this someday.” And so, he did. His favorite part, his “reward” so to speak, was “making sure all of his peers wants and needs were met.”  So, as he serves his community with his insatiable curiosity, he follows in the tradition of Buzz Aldrin, Stephen Hawking, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the millions of immigrant mothers who carried their children on their backs across land and sea.  They did not complete these feats of nature, for a gold star, and neither did Austin. Instead, Austin and these legends of human achievement, crossed the Rubicon of possibility, for a singularly powerful reward: answering the question ‘what does a better world look like for my community?’

 

Austin’s story is not about accolades. It is about self-knowledge, self-confidence, and curiosity, values that empower people to ask better questions and build meaningful lives. 

There is “Cogito, ergo sum” and then there is “I am a High Meadows Alum, therefore I can." Come see what your child can do with a High Meadows education. Schedule a visit today!