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Meijer Scholar Athlete: Yanal Zeqlam

The East Kentwood senior is pursuing his dreams from before sunrise to well past sunset.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Perhaps there’s been no Meijer Scholar Athlete more deserving of a good night’s rest than this week’s honoree.

Yanal Zeqlam is a senior at East Kentwood High School. From 5:30am to 6pm, the 17-year-old is at school either in the classroom or in the pool for swimming and diving practice. Somehow, he’s killing it in both events as well as the classroom, checking with a 4.3 GPA. He confirms he’s not a machine, just someone determined to make his family proud.

“My motivation really comes from the people who surround me with the support that I get. The people telling me to hang on, that I can get through it,” he explains. “Then obviously the self-motivation. You have to be very self-motivated, saying this is what I want to do and this what I enjoy.”

Zeqlam hopes to continue diving at the University of Michigan next fall.

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