Maria Leicy

Maria Mae Leicy grew up in Plainview, Nebraska. Plainview is known for its unique summer festival called Klown Days. Maria is the daughter of Duane Leicy and Ann Christensen. She has a younger brother, Tyler, and a younger sister, Megan. Maria attended Zion Lutheran School, where there were only eight students in her grade. At Zion she participated in choir, Christmas programs, and the annual school musical, which was a fundraiser for the school. During high school, she was involved in one-act plays, speech, basketball, volleyball, track and golf. While in high school, Maria worked as a certified nursing assistant and telemarketer. Maria graduated as salutatorian of her class. Maria received an academic scholarship and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she began studying biology/pre-medicine and worked in a fruit fly lab doing genetics research. As a sophomore in college, she studied the martial art of Judo and ran a marathon, placing second for her age di