LEXINGTON, Ky. — Madelyn Steinberg seems to have it all and, in many ways, she does. The Senior at Sayre School in Lexington has a 3.7 GPA and has won multiple awards for leadership and achievement.
But that success came despite personal trauma, as she says she was bullied and physically assaulted when she was young. She says pageantry helped her get her confidence back and now she’s determined to make sure that doesn’t happen to others, working with the Green Dot program at her school.
“The idea of it is a negative person is represented by a red dot, then if I’m a green dot that means that I’m helping combat that by standing up for the person that’s being bullied or being, you know, mistreated. I’m standing there, I’m standing up for them or offering a smile or offering a seat at the lunch table,” she explained.
She’s also a speaker for the One Love Foundation, educating others about relationship violence. “The two most important unhealthy signs that I think can not even (be) noticed at all (are) manipulation and isolation. Those are things that when you’re in a relationship, you don’t notice that your people are being taken away from you. You don’t notice that somebody is saying I don’t want you to hang out with them anymore. You just need to be focused on me,” she shared.
“I’ve suffered through that very recently, where people have tried to take away my other relationships so that I can be just completely 100% devoted to them, which is extremely toxic and one of the most dangerous things because you don’t realize it’s happening and most people also don’t realize it, Madelyn explained. “So that’s something that I think is very important to educate people on is if you notice that your friend is in a new relationship and they’re starting to back away from you, that’s usually a sign that there’s something unhealthy going on there and it could be emotionally, physically, verbally, any kind of abuse.”
Sayre Director of College Counseling Laura Bonzo lauds Madelyn’s efforts. “I love her honesty. I also love her willingness to be vulnerable because she will share that vulnerability so that she can help other people,” Bonzo said.
”She’s not someone who, if something happens to her, she wallows in ‘why me?’… rather she turns to her family, turns to her friends and knows that she has the skills to take care of the situation, reflect on the situation and then move forward to help others.”
Madelyn also gives back by working with Leadership Lexington and being a facilitator for the “KIDS to Kids” program, helping elementary school children recognize and appreciate diversity. She also volunteers with the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, Dare to Care Food Bank and the Children’s Advocacy Center.
It’s easy to see why she was named Miss Kentucky Teen Volunteer for her community service.
She talked about why she does so much, saying, “I’m a person that believes if you do good, you’ll get good back in some way. So I give back because I don’t know people’s stories. I don’t know what happened to them, what they’ve gone through. So I try and bring a smile to their face. As much as I can give them some comfort, even if it’s donating a blanket or a box of food or something like that, I really believe that small things make a difference.”
“I remember when I was in middle school, the first time I really ever volunteered because I was involved in the Miss America organization,” Madelyn continued. “I went to a food pantry and homeless shelter and I was passing out goodie bags that had socks and a water bottle and some snacks and protein bars and stuff. And this little probably four-year-old girl ran up and grabbed my leg and asked me if I was her angel because I had made such a difference by giving her something that I don’t even think twice about, putting socks on in the morning. That’s why it’s fulfilling to me just seeing people smile, knowing that I’m providing comfort to their families and to themselves and hopefully encouraging them one day to give back. Just like I am.”
Bonzo reiterates how special Madelyn is in that area: “She’s not just doing things because it looks good. She’s doing it because it’s right for her and it’s right for the world she wants to live in.”
Madelyn is also a star athlete as a starting defender for the Sayre girl’s lacrosse team that won the Kentucky state title two years ago and lost in the state title game last year. She also plays club lacrosse. She picked up the sport when she moved to Lexington for her freshman year of high school and says she immediately loved it. “I really like the team aspect. I used to run cross-country (and) I didn’t love it because it was more individual working for a higher result for a team. But I really love the relationships that we have with each other on the team. I think teammates are important and so we’re all really supportive of each other. We’ve been through a lot together, crying because we lost and celebrating because we won. I’m really proud of our team.”
She says she wants to major in political science in college, then go to law school to be a criminal prosecutor.
“I’ve grown up with a lot of adversities that I’ve had to face and I’ve noticed that people aren’t always willing to advocate for the right reasons and on the right side. So that’s something that’s really important to me, that’s really inspired me to go into the law profession because I want to be able to bring justice to families and be able to be that light at the end of the tunnel for them and be able to help them through their hard times,” Madelyn shared.
Bonzo says Madelyn will be an excellent voice for others. “She will approach the situation with kindness, with compassion, with fairness. That’s not always the case. Sometimes feelings and emotions can get ahead of logic and fair decision making. That’s not something that I worry about with Madelyn. I think that because of her own personal experiences, she is aware and conscientious about treating others with kindness and empathy.”
Putting others first is what makes Madelyn Steinberg a deserving High School Scholar.