Sussex Academy senior Katya Geyer, who was voted by her classmates to be the commencement speaker, has excelled in sports and in the classroom and the best has yet to come. Geyer recently committed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she will compete in track and field and major in neuroscience with plans to attend medical school. Geyer’s mom, an immigrant from Belarus, stayed in the United States so her daughter could get a quality education.

“It (being a senior) kind of feels surreal. Senior feels so old. I’m ready to graduate,” said Geyer. “All I do is worry about my grades.”

Geyer was turned down by Yale early on and reached out to MIT about competing in track at the school. As a Division 3 school, MIT needed to make a draft proposal for admissions to review first. In the meantime, she was looking at MIT and Harvard, both schools based in Cambridge, Mass., and attended both on preview weekend.

“When I went up there I just liked the area,” Geyer said. “I’m excited to continue athletics (in college).”

In the end, the Rehoboth Beach native said she was thinking about MIT, which she toured first, while at Harvard.

Katya credits her mom, an immigrant from Belarus who came to the United States through the J1 work program and stayed for her daughter’s education, supporting her through school. The rest of their family is still in Europe.

“She’s here for me and I want to make best of that experience. It’s important for me to know why she’s stayed and why I want to do good for her,” said Geyer.

Geyer plans to major in Neuroscience and minor in Environmental Science. She will then go to medical school to study Neuropathology, a combination of her major and minor, and study pollution’s effect on the brain.

Katya attended elementary school at The Jefferson School (now Sussex Academy’s elementary school) where she ran 5Ks. She improved as a runner, competing in cross country in sixth and seventh grade, and placed fourth in the state at the middle school level. Geyer began running with the varsity cross country and track teams as an eighth grader. She also did figure skating for 10 years before getting hurt, choosing track when she came back from the injury in her sophomore year.

Geyer did well in distance running in eighth and ninth grade. She tried the high jump while in eighth grade but she was only 4’ 10” tall at the time. Katya did better during outdoor track season in her freshman year, winning the Division II state high jump championship after coming back from her injury as a sophomore. Geyer won the Division II state championship in the high jump and was in the top 10 in the triple jump last spring, and placed second in the high jump in the state indoor championship in January after winning the event as a junior.

She credits her experience in figure skating and gymnastics for helping her with coordination in competing in the high jump, triple jump and long jump. Geyer says training for jumping is different from distance training.

“High jump is a fun community,” she said. “I honestly didn’t think that (competing in college) would happen.”

She did some recruitment during her junior year but chose to go to a better academic school rather than attend a Division I school, which would require three practices a day.

Geyer also leads the Green Team at Sussex Academy. The club has eight girls participate during her freshmen year with 45 girls and boys in the club now. The Green Team got a recycling program for the school, does environmental conservation events, and will be planting trees at the elementary school complex this month. It also does an event for Earth Day every year at the elementary school

She is also involved with the Scrub Club, serving as a mentor for five teams in the state this year. Geyer helps fundraise and write grant proposals for the club. Katya is also a member of a number of honor societies and is Vice President of the World Language Honor Society.

The 2026 graduation ceremony took place June 5 at Seahawk Stadium in Georgetown. Geyer will attend pre-orientation at MIT in August.