BY LINDSEY HANNAH
This is not the Max Mickenberg I imagined I would be interviewing in a stuffy classroom one sweltering Friday afternoon. “I want to be the first cowboy astronaut on the moon,” he responds casually when I inquire about his career goals. In the stead of every person’s archetype of an overachieving student, complete with their pompous airs and sauntering gates, sits before me one of another breed altogether. Between seemingly endless lists of achievements, Mickenberg regales me with tales of falling off of treadmills and embarrassing childhood misadventures. I struggle to decide what box to sort him into; is he a future potential Nobel Prize winner or a humble humorist? Extraordinarily, I come to realize he is both.
Mickenberg has always been as outgoing as he is today. As a child, he was constantly bursting with energy, willing to share his ideas with anyone who would listen. He showed outstanding drive in all of his endeavors, even as a young boy. He has always strived to dedicate all of his energy to academics as well as athletics, participating in a myriad of sports like baseball, basketball, and soccer, though he enjoyed some more than others.
“I played travel soccer for a very long time, travel basketball for a bit, one year of travel baseball,” Mickenberg said. “Then I realized that baseball just wasn’t for me… it just didn’t have enough excitement.”
Mickenberg put his drive to good use in his younger years in intellectual pursuits as well. In eighth grade he was vice president of student government, as well as National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), and an officer for the math team. Setting a new record, Mickenberg won nine awards at his middle school graduation ceremony, proving his prowess in the classroom matched that outside of it.
Even before middle school Mickenberg was acquiring accolades to add to his resume. In fifth grade he wrote an essay dedicated to a charity of his choice to be read in front of his school for a competition, and whoever so won was awarded $1000 to donate to the charity they chose. While it would have been easy to select an organization that really pulled on the judges’ heartstrings, Mickenberg chose to represent a cause that he had personal experience with.
“Probably one of the biggest things I’ve had to face… is when I was younger I was diagnosed with OCD,” Mickenberg said. “I used to, in elementary school and even into middle school… count my steps wherever I went, and I had to end on an even step or I would have to go back to where I started… I would double, triple check everything. I would erase holes in scantrons because even if I would see just a little mark… I would erase it until it would send holes right through it.”
Mickenberg won the essay competition, but he had gained something of far greater worth than any newspaper article or certificate could posses.
“I think facing any challenge helps you grow in the long run,” Mickenberg said. “It’s provided its fair share of difficulties, but… I think being able to overcome them has given me confidence that I can do it in other situations as well.”
Mickenberg has done more than overcome his hurdles, excelling at whatever he sets his mind to. As a junior in highschool he is currently in the thrall of his most challenging year, yet Mickenberg somehow balances five AP courses with deep involvements in a multitude of extracurriculars. In previous years he has been a member of FMPA and the CCHS varsity volleyball team. Currently he is president of both DECA and Speech and Debate Club, as well as a member NHS; additionally, Mickenberg still finds time to volunteer at a hospital, coach a children’s soccer team, and tutor his fellow classmates. So how does one person do it all?
“One of my biggest skills has been time management for the most part,” Mickenberg said. “I just do my best not to procrastinate, as hard as that might be… People have a lot more time than they think they do; you’ve just got to try… The best thing is to commit to things that you’re actually interested in because it gives you the extra boost when you need to get something done.”
All of his hard work has not gone unacknowledged; Mickenberg has a stack of certificates to show for it. In sophomore year, the team he was on took first place at a chemistry competition, and he also won a mock interview competition for Broward County juniors. However, most of Mickenberg’s accomplishments have been achieved through his involvement in DECA and Speech and Debate Club.
“Coming into high school like most freshmen I had no idea what DECA was,” Mickenberg said. “I wasn’t really taking it very seriously… I went to the competition testing day because I got out of class, and I took the test and I ended up making it to states, and so did one of my friends… So we kind of went to states together still having no idea what was going on… There were a lot of cool activities there and we ended up liking it a lot. I didn’t make it to nationals that year… but I said to myself I’m going to nationals next year and I actually worked hard and I made it to nationals, and I became president of our chapter last year and I’m president this year.”
Mickenberg placed first in DECA states and qualified to participate at a national level in Nashville.
Speech and Debate Club has also been a central element in Mickenberg’s high school experience, earning him a number of awards and countless skills. He won first place at the Flying L Invitational Tournament in both his freshman and sophomore years, and this year alone Mickenberg placed in numerous national competitions, including the Crestian Tradition. He won first place in impromptu speaking and sixth place in extemporaneous speaking, which secured him a spot on the Tournament of Champions (TOC) to take place in Kentucky next year. Recently, Mickenberg also attended the Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament at the University of Florida, at which he made it all the way to quarterfinals for extemporaneous speaking. Additionally, Mickenberg qualified to participate in National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) nationals to represent the state of Florida in Salt Lake City in June; he is the first from CCHS to do so since 2007. Despite his success in these revered arenas, however, Mickenberg places a much higher value on a far more humble venture.
“My favorite extracurricular activity is probably coaching soccer,” Mickenberg said. “I like teaching kids stuff, and I like seeing them succeed and succeeding along with them.”
These are the types of interests Mickenberg must consider as he selects his college, his major, and, eventually, his career. His top three prefered universities are, in order, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Duke. For someone who has investments in so many areas of interest, however, choosing a major may not be as easy as choosing a college.
“I like biomedical research, maybe even technology for biomedicine, but I really might end up becoming a lawyer,” Mickenberg said. “I think [I want to go into medicine]. I’m really not sure. Maybe… a researcher at a college or something like that… but really what I want to do is teach, be a professor at a college.”
True to form, however, this is not Mickenberg’s main goal for his future. Instead, he puts the most stock in his dreams of being a father. Greatly inspired by his own dad, he hopes to be as much of a role model for his own kids and his dad has been for him.
“Why restrict yourself to just one thing?” Mickenberg asks at one point in our discussion. As overachiever and humorist, athlete and teenager, cowboy astronaut and friend, he is truly the embodiment of this question and statement in one. By refusing to allow one thing to define him, Mickenberg is sure to live a remarkable life, whatever path he chooses.
