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ELP WANTED: Loomis Chaffee Musical Revue seeks pianist who studies Multivariable Calculus. Must be able to triple jump 42 feet, write poignant narratives, and analyze the movement of objects using Newton’s Laws. Proficiency on saxophone, drums, guitar, and a cappella vocals required. Knowledge of Latin a plus. Minimum requirements: 6-to-10 years of classical piano instruction, experience in song-writing, living room converted to recording studio. The ideal candidate will aspire to major in electrical engineering. Spencer Congero is going to be tough to replace. The accompanist for the student-run Musical Revue for the last four years and one of the show’s directors this spring, this Renaissance Man plays Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes with as much ease as he conjugates Latin irregular verbs. His academic accolades span the disciplines, and though he works hard, he makes a point of finding time in each day to have fun. Luckily for those auditioning for the part, however, the Musical Revue’s next accompanist need not share all of Spencer’s talents. A National Merit Commended Scholar and a member of the Cum Laude Society, Spencer carried a senior course load that included Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Advanced Placement Physics II, AP Senior English Seminar in Literature, and term courses in economics, Catullus, and logic. He was the keyboardist in the pit orchestra for this year’s winter musical, Hairspray. He sang with the A Cappelicans, and he wrote for the Loomis Chaffee Log. His essay about the powerful, wordless lessons imparted from his grandmother at his grandfather’s burial earned recognition at the English Honor Tea. A co-captain and four-year letter-winner in track, Spencer placed fourth in the triple jump at the Division I New England Championship in May
A National Merit Commended Scholar and a member of the Cum Laude Society, Spencer carried a senior course load that included Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Advanced Placement Physics II, AP Senior English Seminar in Literature, and term courses in economics, Catullus, and logic. with a 42-foot 9-inch jump that surpassed his previous best by a foot. One of the hardest aspects of life as a Loomis Chaffee student, he says, is “balancing your work with having fun.” He didn’t want homework to consume all of his time away from school. And fun, for Spencer, usually involves music. At home, he has turned the living room into a music studio, where he loves to write and record songs, layering the instrumental and vocal parts he plays. He estimates that he plays the piano at least an hour a day, every day. He can’t remember a time when he wasn’t drawn toward music. He started taking piano lessons in the third grade after asking his parents to sign him up. In the fourth grade, he picked up the saxophone. In the fifth grade, the drums. And in the sixth grade, guitar. Despite his many talents and interests, Spencer has a laid-back quality, perhaps an indication of the emphasis he places on striking a balance in his life. Unhurried but not aloof, he seems uncomfortable only when asked to talk about himself. Then his face gives up an embarrassed smile. He’d rather talk about Billy Joel and the music of Ben Folds or the overlap between Multivariable Calculus and AP Physics or the differences in technique for triple jump versus long jump.
Honors Engineering program at the University of Southern California, a program that offered him a half-tuition scholarship and even will help pay for his travel to Los Angeles from Bloomfield, Connecticut, where he lives with his parents. He plans to major in electrical engineering with a focus on audio engineering. Spencer learned about the USC program from his college advisor, Amy Thompson. “I didn’t know anything about it, but then when I went out there, I just loved it,” he says. None of the other colleges and universities that he considered had the same focus on audio engineering, and the facilities and faculty blew him away. One of the full-time professors of electrical engineering and cinematic arts, for instance, is Tomlinson Holman, a renowned innovator in cinema sound and an Academy Award winner for scientific and technical achievement. USC represents a huge leap in school size from Loomis Chaffee, but Spencer is ready for the adventure and has heard that the university seems much smaller as students delve into their departments and specialties. Still, he says, he will miss going to dinner at the Loomis dining hall and seeing all of his teachers and friends sitting around the room. “The sense of community here is something special,” he says.
Next year Spencer will put his varied and considerable skills to work together in the
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