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Michael O'Leary
The summer after
his ninth grade year
in high school in
Woodbridge, Va.,
Michael O’Leary
proposed that the
county government
build a BMX (bicycle motocross) track. His proposal
would solve several problems at once. His parents wouldn’t
have to continue driving 90 minutes to get him to the nearest
track; the kids of Prince William County would have
something to do, and O’Leary could compete in his favorite
sport much closer to home.
BMX racing, for those who don’t know, takes place on a
dirt track about 1,300 feet long. Competitors jump over
hurdles, careen around berms and generally go as fast as possible
for approximately 45 seconds, at which point the race
is over. It can get pretty aggressive. “Most of the injuries are
broken arms and legs. Fortunately nothing too serious has
happened to me, just some stitches in one of my knees and
a couple of concussions,” says O’Leary, who was U.S. national
bike motocross champion, class 16 novice, in 1996.
So far, the track hasn’t been built, but the outlook is very
promising. A parents group helped O’Leary and others raise
$10,000 of the $20,000 needed for construction; many of the
negotiations over government regulations and zoning
requirements have been conducted, and the proposal was
part of a bond referendum in November’s election. “The referendum
passed, so it appears the county will work on
constructing a track, hopefully by this summer,” says
O’Leary, who served on the Prince William County Youth
Advisory Council during his junior year.
His second passion, aside from biking, is information systems.
He took three years of programming in high school
and both his older siblings work in the field.
O’Leary also does dirt jumping, a biking sport that is
“more oriented to tricks” than BMX racing. He enjoys it all.
“I’ve made so many friends through biking,” says O’Leary,
who was a high school debater in addition to his other activities.
“I’ve visited places all over the country that have biking
trails. It can be a very relaxing, uncompetitive atmosphere.”
Beverly Wee
Beverly Wee’s first big break came at age 14 when she was
chosen for a supporting role in a Chinese drama on Singapore
TV. “It was about a group of young people, all good
tennis players. I was one of them,” she says.
Since then she has also been involved in the TV station’s
English drama unit — landing a role last year in a sitcom
called “Under One Roof” — and in theater productions. Wee
appeared regularly in the Singapore Arts Festival and was part
of a worldwide re-launch of the musical Grease, performed
last April to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary.
“It was a lot of juggling
— getting to rehearsals,
keeping up my grades,
being in the school choir
for six years, doing some
modeling, but I loved it
all,” says Wee.
She also happened to
love economics, which
inspired her to apply to
Wharton. “I’ve always
been interested in business.
Many of our family
friends are involved in the
banking industry, so I grew
up in an environment
where the table conversation
would be about
things like how the markets
are doing.”
At Wharton, Wee has
already done a fashion
show for Asia Pacific Heritage
Week, volunteered at
the student credit union,
joined a new student group focusing on management and
the performing arts, and signed up for a study trip to Turkey
under the auspices of the Awareness of International Markets
(AIM) club. “I’m sure I’ll get involved in theater before I leave
Penn,” she says.
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