By Pranathi Chitta
Staff Writer
@prannydacheetah

When it comes to academics, many students tend to only focus on studying and not on any other activities. However, Coppell High School senior Allen Lu has defied this assumption by not only being number two in his class, but also taking up basketball as an extracurricular activity.

“I didn’t really expect myself to be up this high, it just happened,” said Lu, the Class of 2015 salutatorian. “The hardest thing was juggling basketball with all of this because it takes out a lot of time.”

From doing his homework on the bus to games to even coming home at 8 p.m., Lu finds the key to his success being managing time.

“Going into it, I knew it would be hard to do both,” Lu said. “But I never felt the need to give up either the academics or basketball.”

In addition to basketball, Lu chose to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) route for his last two years of high school, a moment he considers pivotal in his high school career.

“It was probably one of the best decisions I made in my high school career and so many of those people are going to stay with me for a long time,” Lu said. “Just the effect we had on each other in the community is something great.”

Senior Shreya Chandrasekar is not only impressed by the amount of activities Lu takes up, but also his motive to challenge himself further.

“Our teacher had just warned us that math was the hardest topic and advised us to choose topics wisely,” Chandrasekar said. “Most people joked about choosing math or made faces of disgust, but Allen brazenly decided to write his 4,000 word research paper about math. If there’s anything Allen has an appetite for, it’s either Italian food or a true challenge.”

However, Lu’s math journey was not very easy, especially in his first year of IB. In addition to pushing Lu even further, IB math teacher Karie Kosh also found it a challenge to teach Lu.

“Junior year math class was probably the most challenging class I’ve ever [taken],” Lu said. “And I love math so I definitely thrived in that environment and Mrs. Kosh being my teacher, I think I was really encouraged to just excel at math even more so than usual.”

Further, Kosh finds Lu a well balanced student with his extra curricular activities as well as his determination to do well in school.

“I really enjoyed trying to challenge Allen,” Kosh said. “He kept me on my toes. I knew I had written a good test when there was a problem or two that slowed him down. I was pleased that Allen genuinely enjoyed a challenge.”

Throughout his high school, Lu has never felt the need to drop his extracurricular activities. However, when he found out he was number two, Lu felt a greater burden on his back.

“I was definitely pressured from my family,” Lu said. “When [ranks] first came out, I was like ‘Oh I have to stay like that for more than two years.’ Also for myself, I wanted to stay within the top two. It put a lot of pressure on me to get good grades in classes, but it paid off.”

Although he will be leaving high school, Lu will still have his friends from IB with him after graduation.

“I agree that IB has provided us with friends for life,” Chandrasekar said. “Even if we all part and go off to different schools, we’re all conjoined by the unbreakable IB bond.”

Lu will attend the University of Texas, hoping to major in business and go into a career of consulting.

“I expect great things from Allen,” Kosh said. “There’s always an adjustment going from high school to college, but I think Allen has the character and skills to be successful. I look forward to seeing how his life plays out.”