features
march 30, 2012
13
Juniors or seniors? Aspiring students pursue fast track
Hu accumulates enough credits to graduate after three years
photo by Noah Yoo
Hope Flaxman, who is skipping senior year to attend MIT this fall, enjoys her time on Chemistry Team.
Flaxman skips senior year for the opportunity to attend MIT by Noah Yoo Opinion Editor For many Jefferson students, junior year is a long and arduous journey. Senior year is already on the mind, and college seems like it’s eons away. Junior Hope Flaxman, on the other hand, isn’t worried about college applications or even graduation. Next year, she plans on enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. “I made the decision to apply last year,” Flaxman said. “After being offered admission, I realized that this was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.” As of the end of the year, Flaxman will not have completed e n o u g h credits for graduation, and so she won’t be receiving a Jefferson diploma before she departs for MIT as a member of the Class of 2016. Her application was considered alongside all the other applications from current seniors. “Nothing I have done during the time I have been at TJ was done specifically with the goal of getting into college early,” Flaxman said. “Each set of circumstances is unique. Given my circumstances, I felt ready to move on.” “I think that for Hope, this was the perfect choice,” counselor Sean Burke said. “From an academic standpoint, she could have easily attended college after her sophomore year. She’s the third student I’ve ever sent off to college early,
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and I think that she’s ready for the experience.” Flaxman excelled in science and mathematics throughout middle school even before she got to Jefferson. She cites her excellent math instructors and being a part of the nationallycompeting Science Olympiad team at Longfellow Middle School as being the turning points in her love of math and science. “Hope is extremely talented,” computer science teacher Michael Stueben said. Stueben taught Flaxman in his Accelerated Computer Science class when she was a freshman. “She was very quick and selfmotivated. And she seems to be a very wellbalanced person as well.” Flaxman’s first high school math class was AP Calculus BC when she decided on taking the test to skip pre-calculus before starting her freshman year. She is enrolled in postmultivariable calculus classes this year, taking Complex Analysis her first semester and Advanced Math Techniques her second semester. While she doesn’t yet know what she’s going to study in college, Flaxman is going to make sure to pick a major that has many options available to her. “Right now I’m most interested in chemistry, physics and math, but I am keeping my mind open until I have a chance to explore my interests at MIT.”
After being offered admission, I realized that this was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. –Junior Hope Flaxman
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by Anna Hicks Layout Editor Senior Kristina Hu — yes, she is a senior — is set up to graduate with the Class of 2012 after just three years at Jefferson. Hu first drew attention when, as a freshman, she took on a course load including Multivariable Calculus and AP Physics C, two classes almost exclusively taken by upperclassmen. It was in the fall of her sophomore year when Hu realized, with the help of her counselor Tonya Lathom, that she wanted to graduate in three years. “At the rate at which I was challenging myself freshman and sophomore year, I would exhaust all levels of math TJ has to offer by the end of junior year,” Hu said. “Since mathematics is something I want to pursue as a potential major in college, I felt that a fourth year course load that is not sufficiently challenging would not prove beneficial in the long run.” With this in mind, Hu arranged her schedule in order to complete the credits required for the specialized Jefferson diploma by the end of her third year. Though Hu was ahead in math and science, her humanities courses required special expediting. This year, Hu is taking HUM II, the junior humanities course, and both singleton AP Language and Composition and AP Government, traditional senior humanities courses. Luckily, Hu is happy to be taking on the extra humanities workload. She was recently named a national medalist in the Scholastic Writing Awards competition. “My love for humanities has made my senior year’s course load extremely enjoyable,” Hu said. “However, my favorite subject would have to be math, hands down.” Hu fostered her love of math throughout middle school and continued to do so at Jefferson. Her first math teacher here, Jonathan Osborne, who taught her Multivariable Calculus first semester of her freshman year and now teaches her Differential Equations, had a particularly significant effect on her. “Before coming to Jefferson, her math classes consisted mainly of independent study, and she seemed to have been graded more on answers than explanations. She started asking more questions after the first test,” Osborne said. “Sometimes when you have a freshman in a class of mostly upperclassmen, they’ll be very quiet; others have the confidence to really speak up — step up to the plate. Kristina definitely falls into the latter category.” Hu’s unique circumstances put her in a situation where she is technically a senior but still identifies with the junior class as well. In the end, she found it was easy to be a part of both classes. For Friday’s Homecoming spirit day this year (blue day for juniors, toga day for seniors), she wore a blue toga. She has good friends in both
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classes. Outside of academic and social activities, Hu is also an active participant in several extracurriculars. “Balancing extracurricular activities has always been difficult,” Hu said. “However, I strongly believe in having a well-rounded set of interests.” This year, she is the captain of the Varsity Math Team, takes dance classes every week, and even regularly updates a YouTube channel where she sings and plays piano, doing covers of pop and dubstep music. Her most popular video — a piano cover of the Skrillex hit “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” uploaded under her username TheUnsungHeroine — has more than 200,000 views and better than 99 percent positive feedback from thousands of raters. “It’s fun to hear the way Kristina plays dubstep on the piano. It’s a really cool combination,” junior Jane Berkowitz, who subscribes to Hu’s YouTube channel, said. “She’s so talented.” As for the future, Hu remains open to possibilities. She has been offered admission to Harvard University, Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but is unsure where she will attend in the fall. She plans to pursue a career in any of the fields of mathematics, computer science or economics. “Even though I know I’ve given up some things in choosing to graduate a year early, I’m extremely excited about my future,” Hu said. “I know I will find many open doors and opportunities wherever I choose to go in the coming years.”
photo by Anna Hicks
Kristina Hu is taking senior year classes in order to meet graduation requirements.
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