SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- At Hathaway Brown School, an honors class called Global Scholars requires a student to pick a topic of study that has an international focus. Senior Gurbani Kaur picked two.
The program also requires a 20- to 25-page thesis. Gurbani wrote 65 pages for her first thesis and is working on her second, due at the end of this month.
"She did two theses because that's who she is," said Terry McCue, the school's director of college counseling. "Everything she does, she does to the max. Her intellectual curiosity is limitless."
Gurbani, 18, who is bound for Harvard in the fall, seems to handle the rigors of academia with no sweat, no matter how high she piles her plate. She is a National Merit Scholar, a regional finalist in the Siemens math, science and technology competition and has been awarded national honors for debate and science.
After her classes at Hathaway Brown, through a fellowship, she does research in a science lab at Case Western Reserve University.
She is editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, poetry editor of the school literary magazine and president of the Math Club. She also is the president of STAMP, the school's disability awareness association, and founded Hathaway Brown's diversity training for third-graders.
"We honestly don't know how she does it," said McCue.
Gurbani's answer: "I find time to do things I'm interested in. I don't know how it happens. It just seems to flow for me. It feels right."
Gurbani lives in Copley with her Indian-born parents, Deepjot Singh and Hanspreet Kaur, both medical doctors, and her younger sister. She has an older brother who is at Columbia University in New York City studying biology.
Gurbani, who was also accepted by Stanford, wants to study medicine and become a heart surgeon. At the CWRU lab, she is researching cardiovascular nano medicine.
"I've always been fascinated by the heart," she said, recalling the children's TV program "The Magic School Bus," which triggered her interest in science.
In one episode, the bus shrinks to microscopic size and drives through the veins and arteries of a human body and into the chambers of the heart.
"I really want to go into cardiology and surgery," she said.
Gurbani, who is deeply devoted to her Sikh religion, begins her school day at 5:30 a.m. with morning prayer. "My religion has always been a major part of my life," she said. "It's shaped my perspectives on social issues."
Gurbani's father, who works at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland, drives her to school, leaving at 6:30 a.m. He picks her up at the CWRU lab in the evening.
On weekends, she hangs out with friends, many of them from her school debate team.
"The community at Hathaway Brown is filled with friends," she said. "The memories I have from there will always stay close to my heart."
Though she's a high-achieving student, Gurbani doesn't take all the credit.
"It's a group effort," she said. "My teachers, my parents, my siblings support me. I'm surrounded by people who are really talented. I'm in good company."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: momalley@plaind.com, 216-999-4893