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by Paul Cleland, Opinion Co-Editor, Maddison Coons, Managing Editor, and Monica Patel, Editor-in-Chief A small boy with dark curly hair sits in front of the computer of his first grade class room in Washington. No, now-senior Nick Van Wiggeren is not playing Oregon Trail, but fixing a glitch as head of class tech support for his first grade class. It began as a fascination for the computer world at age three. “I’ve always loved using computers, and I’m pretty adept with them, so naturally I want to work with them whether it be programming, network administration, or anything in between,” Van Wiggeren said, who plans on majoring in Computer Science. Van Wiggeren’s interest in computers began to flicker back in 2001 at the age of eight when he received his first desktop computer for Christmas. Van Wiggeren, regarding himself as always being a kind of weird computer-web kid, recalls helping fix computer tech problems at Flamson middle school. “We would take him out of [Flamson Middle School English teacher Brian] Romero’s class to help us with our computer class (TAG) in sixth grade. He was the smartest person and wasn’t even in TAG but became interested in it towards the end of sixth grade; then he joined the class seventh and eighth grade,” senior and best friend Conner Burggraf said, who plays video games such as Call of Duty and Runescape with Van Wiggeren in their downtime. Van Wiggeren now teaches himself through online tutorials, but he looks forward to a college education at one of the nine schools he applied to. Van Wiggeren has high ambitions. He feels UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon are realistic choices for him, but he dreams of being accepted to Princeton or Harvard. He also applied to University of Washington, Rice University. So far Van Wiggeren’s been accepted
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to University of Wisconsin and NYU Polytechnic. “I applied to them all because I wanted a range of schools around the country that had excellent academic records and that seemed right for me. I think I’ll go to the one that gives me the largest scholarship though,” Van Wiggeren said, whose current weighted academic GPA stands at 4.80 for 2010-2011 and 4.20 overall for his high school career. He accounts his straight A success with five AP classes to pure work and dedication. “I am trying hard, and I understand everything better [because of it]. It is rewarding to get a report card that says 4.80 even though it means I don’t get a lot of free time,” Van Wiggeren said whose normal day consists of school, two hours of homework, working out, dinner, finishing homework, and relaxing (but just a little bit). “He’s working a lot harder—we can never hang out anymore because he’s always like ‘I got calculus homework.’ And he does hours of homework a night, but it wasn’t like that before,” Burggraf said, who hopes to attend University of Washington. Van Wiggeren and Burggraf were named “Best Friends Forever” after seven years of friendship for El Roble’s Senior Superlatives 2011. Van Wiggeren ended up writing six completely different applications essays. He believes the best one is his essay for Princeton University about his role model: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Instructor Cotton Marks, who began martial arts at age 16 and has been teaching for six years. “I started MMA about six months ago [ in August 2010] because I wanted to let stress out, have fun, and learn some self-defense. I’ve learned that it really helps me relax and concentrate,” Van Wiggeren Paso Robles High School
Photo by Lindsay Reed
said, whose busy schedule includes five AP classes in Calculus, Chemistry, Economics, Government, and Literature. Van Wiggeren makes this retreat to Studio three at Kennedy Paso Robles. MMA isn’t just a class for Van Wiggeren to punch, duck, or kick around in, but a ground he found inspiration in a person outside of his family, his instructor. Ironically Marks, a conservative Christian, is the complete opposite to liberal, atheistic Van Wiggeren. “Out of our differences, however, has grown a sort of mutual respect and trust, a bond that has benefited not only my physical prowess, but my emotional and mental strength and integrity,” Van Wiggeren writes in his essay. Van Wiggeren also believes his biggest influences in life have been his parents—his father, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker who received his MBA from Harvard, and his mother, who translates IEP’s from Spanish to English for the school district. “My parents have always been there for me. They’ve always wanted the best for me, but were never too controlling. They gave me a lot of leniency actually,” Van Wiggeren said, who believes his own biggest negative influence is himself. “I’m deathly afraid of not succeeding and ending up stuck in Paso.” The senior with trimmed hair, skinny jeans, and a Calvin Klein bag reflects on the applications process. It was boring, stressful and annoying, according to Van Wiggeren; he “just wanted to get it done with.” He does admit it was good once the essays were over with, as he perks up a little after commenting his mother, Consuelo Baratta, concluded the role model essay was most like him. Van Wiggeren now continues the waiting game for admissions letters hoping his inbox flashes with comforting news: accepted. Crimson 03.16.11