While many high school students strive to earn high GPAs, participate in clubs and sports, or graduate with honors, Mariah Jelinek has gone a step further — several steps, in fact. The Iola High School senior, and Class of 2025 Salutatorian, earned an associate degree as a junior in high school.
“I’ve always known that I was going to go to college and I’ve always been super excited about it,” Jelinek said. “It just made sense to get a head start.”
By the end of her junior year, Jelinek had earned a degree in general studies from Allen Community College, completing between 12 to 15 college credit hours per semester — all while maintaining a 3.98 GPA at IHS, participating in numerous extracurricular activities, and working a job at Sam & Louie’s.
“It was a lot of time management,” she said. “I would do my online classes with Allen, then I’d do some dual credit courses, followed by some high school classes.”
Her hectic schedule didn’t stop there. “After volleyball, I’d usually go to work,” she added. “I was constantly on the go.”
Jelinek’s accomplishments reached beyond academics. She is the 2025 Iola High School Homecoming Queen, a Kansas Scholar, vice president of the National Honor Society, a student council member, and student council class treasurer for three years.
IN THE FALL, she’ll be attending the University of Kansas to major in finance with the goal of graduating in 2027.
Her ultimate goal is to follow the path of her dad, Tyson Jelinek, a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Iola.
“Both of my parents went to school for business,” Jelinek said. “My dad’s been able to mentor me. I know where I want to end up and I know my parents can tell me how they got there.”
Her mother, Darlita, has also played a vital role. “My mom has always been there if I needed help on an assignment or if I had questions,” she said.
Thanks to her academic excellence, Jelinek has earned substantial scholarships to help continue her education: a $20,000 KU Chancellor Scholarship and a $1,000-per-semester Ellis Foundation Scholarship.
She also has big dreams to one day study abroad. “I’ve been to Europe and I really love it there,” she said. “I hope to study in Italy or Greece for the summer of 2026.”
Jelinek is looking forward to the next chapter.
“I’m excited for the different lifestyle of getting out on my own and having some independence,” she said. Beyond college, she envisions herself living somewhere other than Kansas.
“I’d like to get out on the East Coast or anywhere with a beach,” she said. “I love Iola, but I’d like to get out somewhere new.”
As the oldest of three sisters — one a sophomore, the other in seventh grade — Jelinek is setting the bar high. Her advice for others is straightforward: “If you put your all into it, you’ll get that out of it,” she said. “It really wasn’t that hard to graduate from Allen before high school. All I had to do was put in the work. I just had to stay disciplined and motivated.”
