Lamar HS scholar charts path to academic excellence

Robert W. Lane III was solving multiplication problems, spelling third-grade words, and putting together complicated Lego sets – all at the age of 18 months.

While attending Valley West Elementary School, Robert performed at a post-high school level while maintaining honor roll status, as well as excellent conduct and perfect attendance.

During his years at Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men, he was selected for a pilot program in which he took and excelled at advanced high school math courses. He scored in the top five percentile in the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and was recognized as a Duke University TIP Program medal recipient in math, reading, science, and English.

As a freshman at Lamar High School in the IB programme, Robert’s goal has been to become valedictorian or salutatorian of his 2021 senior class. He has maintained a 4.61 (or higher) GPA and continued as a member of the National Honor Society.

However, due to his passion to become an engineer (in 10th grade, he received his OSHA 10-hour General Industry certification), the engineering classes he took were considered 4.0 rather than 5.0 classes, which decreased his class rank and his chances of becoming valedictorian or salutatorian.

During the summer of 2020, Robert won an award of excellence from the Congress of Future Medical Leaders and represented Lamar at the ENVISION National Youth Leadership Forum and National Student Leadership Conference. Other accomplishments include:

  • Recognition by the College Board National Recognition Programs
  • Finalist as a QuestBridge College Prep Scholar
  • Ranked in the top 2.5 percentile in the region among African-American males who had high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT 
  • Ranked in the top one percentile on the SAT, having received a perfect math score of 1500

Robert applied early decision to several top colleges, including MIT, Stanford, Rice, Duke, Princeton, and Yale. He was accepted and received a four-year academic scholarship to Rice University. 

Robert continues to pursue his educational and academic goals while serving as the Lamar Baseball Team manager.