Everything was ready for her 21st birthday. Balloons covered Amanda Gorman's apartment, streamers hung from her bedroom door and martini glasses lined the table.
But the Spanish senior had other things on her mind — in less than 24 hours was her test to become a certified Spanish teacher.
It was a dilemma for Gorman, who will graduate this semester with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average and who recently won an award from the MSU Board of Trustees for her grades.
"I was trying to wait up till midnight for my birthday, but of course I was studying like crazy," she said.
Her friends didn't buy her excuse to skip the celebration.
"Your 21st birthday only comes around once in a lifetime," they told her. "You have your whole life to study — you can study more later."
Reluctantly, Gorman put down the books.
"I'm a big perfectionist," said Gorman, who aspires to be a high school Spanish teacher. "I've been that way since kindergarten."
Growing up, Gorman was the director, rounding up the neighborhood kids to perform plays in her Livonia backyard. The 6-year-old noticed if the costumes didn't match or if someone had too many lines.
"I always had to be the director to make sure everything was right," she said.
Being a perfectionist means setting high goals, she said — such as planning to earn two master's degrees — but it's also twofold because of the extra pressure Gorman puts on herself.
"Telling me to stop stressing and worrying is like telling someone to stop eating chocolate," Gorman said.
Alyssa Aubry, who describes herself as a perfectionist, also is a winner of the board's award for a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
And just like Gorman, Aubry said she has felt the stress from studying her notes "over and over and over" to get good grades.
"I was always anxious about life in general, and all the decisions I had to make and all the things I had to do," the nutritional sciences senior said. "It was more a pressure I think I put on myself because that's just the type of person I am."
Aubry usually arrived late to and skipped out early from a Bible study in Landon Hall, said Kristy Kellom, the group's former leader. Rarely did Aubry stay after the meetings to hang out because she was eager to finish her homework.
"That was a big struggle for her," the interior design senior said.
But in the next year, Aubry started spending more of her time at Bible studies and at Campus Crusade for Christ meetings.
Up to five nights a week, she would return home before midnight from religious activities or hanging out with the friends she met there.
She squeezed in studying whenever she could, sometimes staying up until the early morning hours, wrapped in a blanket with her books and a mug of hot chocolate.
"I just have to reason with myself. A year from now, am I going to care?" Aubry said. "Am I going to remember if I did badly on that test, especially 10 years from now?"
Even with a changed perspective on life and academics, the 22-year-old still maintained her 4.0 GPA. Aubry credits her Bible study, even though it made her cut back on homework time.
"It was probably the best decision I could make," she said.
