Bookends

The past two Saturday's (1/29/05) and (2/5/05), I have spent the day at school interviewing current 8th grade students, from all over the East Bay, who are applying to become 9th graders at Head-Royce. Starting at 9AM, you have exactly one-half hour to conduct the interview and then write a short evalution/description of the meeting and make a quick judgement, based solely on the interview, to accept, deny or put the student on the waiting list.

Between these two Saturdays, I met up with three 2001 graduates of HRS. Jamie G. and Nick J. were both advisees and Simon R. was a (pain in the ass) student. I found it to be such an interesting way to look at the admissions process to see what the product of our foundational education looks like.

Jamie G. is now taking his senior year off from Dartmouth where he is studying Electrical Engineering and Political Science. This past fall, he travelled to Kuwait to aide in launching of a private liberal arts college in the country. In a couple of weeks, Jamie will be travelling to Iran to spend the spring and summer doing (I forget exactly).

Nick J. took his freshman year off to travel to Central America. He now is an Economics and Environmental Science major at Kenyon College in Ohio. One bit of interesting information. Nick stood in line for 10.5 hours to cast his vote in the 2004 election. This spring, Nick will be doing a study abroad in Chile, in which there is a large Economics component.

Simon R. is one of the most far-sighted minds I know. He is able to discern what is truly important versus those things that are extraneous. When I had him in my Algebra II class, he NEVER paid attention and turned in the shoddiest of work. What I attributed to laziness, is Simon's realization that he could do minimal work, enjoy life, and still get to the places he wanted to. He is following a passion in the gaming world and has told me about a dream product he would like to make. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you.

High school plays a very crucial part of our development. It's been interesting to see the before and after.