Mariko Krause has a drive unlike ‘most any other teenager.
“She hasn’t changed that much since she was a child, strong-willed, she came out very independent,” says Mariko’s mother, Atsuko.
Determined to graduate at the top of her class, she has tenaciously pursued excellence in academia, motivated by her desire to become an orthopedic doctor. She also is a “big sister” to a kindergartener at Hopkins Elementary School through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. When the school bell rings on Friday, instead of running to a friends house, Mariko rushes out the door to piano lessons, only to return to the school gym for basketball practice.
“A lot of it is her parents; her mother is from Japan and her dad was raised in an orphanage,” says Chris Adkins, Mariko’s basketball coach at Somerset High School. “Also, I think a lot of it is that she doesn’t have cable.”
But who has the time anyway?
“I don’t really have anything else to do,” she says. ”I can’t just sit down and watch TV.”
Despite being shy at times, Mariko was chosen homecoming queen this year.
“She has different kinds of friends,” says Mariko’s father, Richard Krause. “She can be friendly with the poorer kids in school, the foreign kids, jock. She is good friends with the boys. She is able to tailor her attention to different kinds of people.”
While running from place to place with her busy schedule, Mariko keeps everything in line with little hesitation or struggle.
Despite her confidence in so many areas, she is afraid of taking the wheel of a car on her own and has only a driver’s permit.
“(Mom) just chauffeurs me wherever and gets mad at me for it,” Mariko says.
College is in her future, of course, but she can’t decide where.
“I’m just excited and nervous to go,” she says.
