When Pascack Valley senior Shauna McLean was in sixth grade, she always found herself bored in class. Seeing her boredom, her mother gave her the option to skip seventh grade and go directly into eighth. This decision was nerve-racking for her mom, but she wanted to support McLean because she knew that it was the right decision for her.

“Shauna needed a challenge and I was so proud of her for being willing to put in the extra work,” said Elena McLean, McLean’s mother. “I believe Shauna will look back on that experience in the future and it will help her realize that she can define her own path in life.”

Going into middle school, McLean’s decision to skip seventh grade was not planned. During the summer after sixth grade, she studied for the seventh grade final assessments in order to take them at the end of the summer to be placed into eighth grade. McLean also passed the SCAT test in sixth grade, making her a part of the John Hopkins Center for gifted youth.

“It was a little difficult,” McLean said. “I still had my friends from the other grade but it was a big adjustment at the beginning, especially that it was kind of odd that people remembered me around the school. Although it was a lot of studying, the reason I was successful was because my sisters helped me.”

While in high school, McLean completed a summer program at Georgetown University for the National Leadership Conference. Now, she will be continuing her education at the University of Toronto where both of her sisters attend and is majoring in international relations.

From debate team to Lit Mag

At PV, McLean is the president of the debate team and this is her second year as co-editor in chief of PV’s Lit Mag.

“I did not know it existed and then freshman year I submitted a poem,” McLean said. “I then decided to join and then junior year I was made editor in chief.”

McLean got involved with the debate team because she liked doing in-class debates in middle school. She was interested in becoming a lawyer and thought that debating would help her with the profession. McLean said that being on the team has taught her that she can not always win, gave her confidence, and helped her become a better public speaker.

“[Debate] is really just a club that taught me the nuances of an argument and how to find those,” McLean said.

In her freshman year, McLean submitted a poem to the Lit Mag. She joined the club during her sophomore year since she believed it was “inclusive.” In McLean’s junior year, she was made the editor in chief.

“The biggest thing she brings is she has a professionalism about her and is very mature and she gets people to want to work hard for a reason,” said Matt Morone, the adviser of Lit Mag.

Morone said that this year, Lit Mag had the biggest turn out for the “Lit Out Loud,” a concert that raises money for the club. He said that the event was successful due to McLean’s leadership.  

PV senior studies self-efficacy in students

For McLean’s senior project, she is studying self-efficacy in students.

“Basically what that means is I am looking at students and why different students choose classes and why they would choose to challenge themselves and mostly self-efficacy which means how much a person believes they can attain a new skill,” McLean said.

She became interested in this topic from conversations she had with PV English Department Supervisor Valerie Mattessich, her mentor, and listening to students she tutors. She decided to study this to better help the students.

In order to research this topic, McLean shadows classes and looks at the mannerisms of students. A self-efficacy questionnaire was put together and McLean is interviewing people based on the results.

“I am going to attempt to find the ideal classroom situation in order to bolster self-efficacy in students,” McLean said.

McLean is writing a paper and putting together a mock lesson plan that she will be presenting to different groups of students. The goal of this is to find the ideal classroom for self-efficacy.

“I am studying self-efficacy and the study of the psychology behind motivation and the rewards theory,” McLean said. “My mother is an engineer, and when we were growing up, my sisters were in pre-med and finance. There was always a big emphasis on learning just so that you can know things in my household. And that kind of carried on into school.”

In the future, McLean wants to be a litigations lawyer or do something in politics, such as a political analyst or a politician.

“A desire to know is my main motivation,” McLean said.