Wesley Branch
Recent Norcross graduate Michael Zhang is a young man of many talents.
Most know him for his abilities as a basketball player, but others didn’t notice he is also an excellent student and boasts an impressive list of talents outside of athletics and academics. He graduated from Norcross with a grade point average of 4.8, is an exceptional piano player, a certified programmer, a website and app developer and runs his own sneaker business.
Zhang will be continuing both his basketball and academic careers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) next month.
Zhang transferred to Norcross just before his junior year, originally coming off the bench as a key rotational player for the Blue Devils in their run as Class AAAAAAA state champions, before stepping into a starting role his senior year. A 6-foot-5 combo guard, Michael is a lethal 3-point shooter and excels at creating space off the dribble to generate shots for himself and get to his favorite spots on the floor.
“I can shoot, I can dribble and I can plays make for myself and others,” Zhang said. “Just in general, I love contributing to winning.”
Jesse McMillan, his Norcross head coach, echoed those thoughts.
“(Zhang) was very skilled (as) an offensive guy, especially with shooting the basketball,” McMillan said. “(He) was able to process the game pretty quickly, (and) had a high basketball IQ. From the moment that he got here as a junior to the day that he left as a senior I felt like he continually progressed to get better. That’s a testament to his work ethic and his understanding of the process.”
Zhang’s recruiting process was different because of his high-academic options, including Ivy League schools like Princeton and Harvard and several other impressive schools who were fighting for him to join their program. However, McMillan said MIT was always Zhang’s goal.
“That was his dream school from the beginning,” McMillan said. “We had several conversations throughout his career here and he made it very clear from the beginning that if MIT was ever an option that would be the one that he would really want to be a part of. MIT was the one he kind of had his heart set on.”
For Zhang, the culture of MIT’s program and the campus atmosphere are what drew him to the Engineers.
“When I went on my trips to MIT, I really feel like I didn’t want to leave,” Zhang said. “It’s just because of all the great people and the culture that they had on campus, which is something that really stuck with me compared to other schools that I visited.”
Zhang also credited his desire to attend MIT to the development of his relationship with MIT’s head coach, Larry Anderson, and the academic programs that align with his interests.
He plans to major in computer science with concentrations in artificial intelligence, decision-making and business analytics. His high school success laid the foundation for his workload at MIT — in addition to his high GPA and AP classes, he scored 35 on the ACT — and he was named Norcross’ male Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete for the 2022-23 school year.
“It’s really an honor,” Zhang said of receiving the award. “Coming here in 11th grade, knowing all the phenomenal athletes in my class but also just history at Norcross, with such a great culture of great athletes. Being named male student-athlete of the year at Norcross is something I’m really proud of.”
The award is given to only one male and female athlete at the school each year.
“That’s a huge honor,” McMillan said. “To be honored as the student-athlete of the year for Norcross High School is extremely impressive. From a coach standpoint, that particular honor does not come around often. So when you have a student-athlete of the year chosen from your program it’s pretty unique and pretty special.”
Zhang said his academic success was a result of his ability to manage his time, prioritize his academics and limit his screen time on his phone. That said, he still had time for an incredible catalog of hobbies. From playing the piano to being a certified programmer, and running his own shoe business, he always keeps himself occupied.
His wide list of extracurriculars were guided by his mother’s influence and guidance.
“I have to attribute my interests to my mom,” Zhang said. “Ever since I was young, she instilled in my brother and I to always keep ourselves occupied in different productive things. I think doing that many activities when I was little instilled in me the habit of always looking for things to do to spark my interest.”
Zhang and his brother were always on the move as children, listing flag football, karate, soccer, tennis, piano and swimming as “just a few” of the activities he was involved in as a child.
In the near future, Zhang will participate in tournaments in both Toronto and Taiwan before heading off to MIT. In the long term, he has high aspirations for himself. He hopes to continue to play basketball professionally after graduating college and also wants to be involved with a tech startup or a technology company part-time during his professional basketball career.
“Mike’s going to be able to do whatever he wants to in his life,” McMillan said. “He is just wired for success and he’s dedicated and he’s disciplined. Wherever this journey takes him over these next four or five years, he’s going to be successful at anything that he really wants to do.”
Read the online version here: https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/sports/well-rounded-norcross-guard-michael-zhang-earns-his-way-to-mit/article_0413fcf4-1ba5-11ee-a7ae-2f8ccbfff11e.html