Student-Athlete Of The Month: Sienna Miller

When your high school team has won four straight state lacrosse titles and you’re one standout athlete on a team of phenomenal players, being seen as a standout player requires some extraordinary talent. But for Sienna Miller, individual recognition isn’t something she seeks. Though she’s played on Broadneck High School’s girls varsity lacrosse team for four years as an attacker, Miller said she doesn’t try to carry the team, but rather to put herself in a position to contribute to the team.

“I was proud to have scored the most total points last season, which isn’t just about scoring goals but includes assists, too,” Miller said. “That was meaningful to me because it wasn’t about me scoring goals but about the team’s scoring and me being able to help my team.”

That team-first attitude has been her focus while a Bruin. As a freshman, she tried to soak up every word of advice or direction she received from her upperclassmen teammates and coaches. She appreciated their mentorship, and now as a senior leader, she is enjoying her role as mentor.

“I make sure I encourage and motivate my teammates, especially the younger players, by talking throughout the game, either recognizing a good play or offering advice or positive correction,” Miller added. “I think back to when I was a young player, and I remember how much it meant to me to hear that I was doing a good job or to receive a few constructive words on how to improve both during a game or at practice.”

In addition to lacrosse, Miller has run track and played on the Bruins soccer team and unified bowling team. Following her junior lacrosse season, she was named to the Capital Gazette first-team all-county team and earned the Capital’s Most Valuable Player honors.

In the classroom, Miller is a top scholar. She is a member of the National Honors Society, Math Honors Society and the Science National Honors Society. Additionally, she is a member of Rho Kappa for excellence in social studies, president of the National English Honors Society, Key Club vice president, and is part of the Broadneck Athletic Leadership Council. During her Bruins career, she has served as president and ambassador for Morgan’s Message, a student-athlete community focused on the mental and physical health in athletics.

Miller will attend the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, studying engineering and playing club lacrosse. She received offers to play lacrosse at several institutions, but she didn’t feel the academics were at the level she desired.

“While I do love playing lacrosse, it’s always been my plan to forego athletics for academics,” Miller said. “If I had found a challenging engineering program for both chemical and biomedical engineering, and an offer to play lacrosse, that would have been ideal. But athletics was always second to academics.”

Miller said that she had many great teachers at Broadneck but singled out John Schiller and Chris Shelby for their teaching styles and willingness to always be available to students.

“I had Mr. Shelby for Advanced Placement Calculus. It was the hardest course I’ve ever taken,” Miller shared. “He taught me a lot, and not just all about math, but also perseverance and hard work.

“Mr. Schiller was my physics teacher,” she added. “He has a way of taking a hard subject and making the content fun.”

Miller is an Arnold resident and the daughter of Chantal and Kevin Miller.