Excellence in her DNA
LOREN BENOIT/Press Natalie Jablonski poses for a portrait at Whispers Tuesday afternoon. The Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy senior will take her passion for finding cures to Paris, where she will study genetics at Pierre and Marie Curie University this fall.
By BETHANY BLITZ
Staff Writer
Natalie Jablonski has always been a passionate student. This fall, the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy senior will take that passion to France, to study genetics.
“This is such an accomplishment; it’s bigger than Harvard,” said Lynda LeBlanc, Jablonski’s French teacher. “She’s going to the No. 1 school in France, which is world-renowned — and not as an exchange student, but as a French-speaking student. And she’s not even studying French, she’s studying biology.”
Jablonski always knew she wanted to go into the medical field, but wasn’t excited about being a doctor. Instead, she’s more intrigued by the research side of things. There are a lot of new discoveries being made in genetics right now, she said, especially with gene editing.
She said her undergrad will focus on broader topics such as biology, chemistry and geological science, and will then narrow in on genetics when she goes for her master’s degree.
Jablonski said her mom inspired her to pursue a medical-related field — she’s a nurse, and also Mexican.
Jablonski said she figured if she wanted to learn Spanish, she could learn it at home, so she chose to learn French at school. Now, she’s going to go to school in France.
“I think [my parents] would prefer if I stayed closer to home, but they’re excited I got this chance,” she said.
She cruised through French classes in high school and scored a 5 on the AP exam her junior year — the highest possible score.
Her senior year, this year, she wanted to stay involved in French, so she’s been a student teacher for the level three class.
Aside from French, she has competed in speech and debate and got involved with theater. She’s currently cast as the evil mother in the school’s play, “Once Upon a Mattress.”
This won’t be Jablonski’s first time in France. She went with LeBlanc, her French teacher, for two weeks one summer with a few classmates.
“As teachers we don’t often get to see other sides of students,” LeBlanc said. “That summer I really saw she’s a team-builder, very self-motivated and so bright and so modest.”
Applying for the Universite de Pierre et Marie, which is in Paris, was not nearly as simple as applying for college in the U.S., Jablonski said. She had to go to Seattle for a language-proficiency test, she had to translate her college essays into French and fill out other application forms, in French.
She said she has known she wanted to go to school in France for a few years now. She wanted to be able to use French without necessarily studying it. And, she said, tuition is only about $500 per year.
“I should probably be more nervous than I am,” Jablonski said. “There are so many things I have to consider, like where I’m going to live and signing up for the right classes. But I’m really excited.”
Jablonski leaves for Paris in August. School starts at the beginning of September, so she wanted to give herself some time to get things organized.
“She’s wise beyond her years and very comfortable in her own skin,” LeBlanc said of her student. “She is someone we want to keep our eye on.”