North Atlanta High School boasts a diverse and vibrant student body, yet among them, there can only be one student body president. Senior Luke McCullough was destined for this role, and his leadership qualities were evident from his early days in student government. However, his journey began well before the start of his high school career.
Like many others at North Atlanta, McCullough attended Sutton Middle School. He was academically inclined and very active, involved in sports such as cross-country and lacrosse. He was also a member of the Sutton Orchestra and played the cello. McCullough began working at Chick-fil-A in 8th grade and continued throughout high school.
Unfortunately, like many kids nationwide, during the pandemic, McCullough’s Freshman year was solely virtual. However, this did not stop him from getting involved in student government, and he was inspired to run for 9th-grade class president. Due to the circumstances, campaigning was virtual, forcing him to turn to social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok. Thanks to his efforts, he won class president. “We would have virtual student government meetings weekly,” he said. “We were really involved in helping the school come back from being fully online and communicating with our grades.”
McCullough immediately knew the importance of taking rigorous courses in high school, as college prep was extremely important. Therefore, in 9th grade, he began taking AP Human Geography. This pattern continued into sophomore year, where he took courses such as AP World History and AP Language Arts. While juggling academic responsibilities, McCullough’s involvement in extracurricular activities continued to grow. During his sophomore year, he joined the National Honors Society, and in his junior year, he started in the IB Diploma Program and joined Model Arab League and Rho Kappa. “I knew that this was a path I wanted to continue for all my years of high school,” he said. “Especially for college prep, rigorous classes were extremely important to me.”
The summer going into Senior year, McCullough was accepted into the Governor’s Honors Program for Commutative Arts. This program was at Georgia Southern University and lasted for one month. On top of this incredible achievement, McCullough was also focused on college applications and tours. “I wanted to do as much work as I could towards preparing for the application process,” he said. “It was important to me that I alleviated as much stress as possible before the start of the new school year.”
McCullough’s hard work and dedication paid off. During the first semester of his senior year, he began his application for Posse, a non-profit organization that is targeted towards providing leadership-based scholarship opportunities to high school students. Many seniors at North Atlanta applied, and a nomination was required from a counselor and other teachers. McCullough was one of the few who was awarded a Posse Scholarship, specifically to his top choice, Boston University. He plans on majoring in international relations and is on a pre-law track. “I am so excited to be attending BU,” he said. “It truly is such a blessing to be able to study at such an amazing school in my favorite city.”
During his Senior year, McCullough continued to stay heavily involved in the NAHS community, becoming student body president and president of the National Honors Society. He is also on Varsity Mock Trial, where they had a very successful year. “Our mock trial team is like a second family to me,” he said. “We had such an amazing season, advancing all the way to the district competition where we placed 3rd.”
After achieving so much in his high school career, senior Luke McCullough’s future awaits him at Boston University, where he will continue to do incredible things.
