Past & Present: All Time High ('18)

The third installment in our alumni series, we interviewed a more recent graduate from the class of 2018 on his life at Harvard and how MV has impacted that. Read the longer and less edited version of his interview below.

Q: What did you think of your time at MV?

A: I loved it. I think it was a great place. Granted, there were times where stress is crazy. There was a lot of competition between students. I think that's an aspect that could really negatively weigh in on a high school experience. It's also definitely not the norm anywhere else in the states. But no matter what you say about that, it definitely makes you very prepared for college. Institutions like Harvard, you get students from different areas of the country and different areas of the world. No matter compared to who, if you're coming from the Bay, especially from Monta Vista, you just get a really high leg up from a preparatory stance. For the experience side, I think it really is what you make of it. I was lucky to have really good friends, really good social support networks. I know that's not the case for everyone, but it’s really just what you make of it. This year not so much, but I was in touch with Mr. Clarke, Ms. Lerner, and Ms. Chow. You don't know it at the time because they’re just giving you assignments, but they really care about how you do, which is incredible.

Q: What do you think MV taught you?

A: The most superficial thing that MV taught me was how to grind. It could be seen in a negative light, but it's definitely extremely helpful when you get to college and have to hunker down in the library for hours to get ready for a final. The biggest contribution was that MV definitely just grew me as a person; learning how to deal with friends, learning how to deal with yourself as you’re changing and your perception of who you are is changing as well. I think the lesson is not something you can say. You just come out of the other side, and there's so many perspectives that you've gained. It's good to be mindful of that because you don't want to go through these four years and just kind of watch it go by right [...] It's good from time to time to reflect back and just see how you've changed.

Q: What’s your favorite memory from MV?

A: I would definitely say our senior year. We won the Northern California Regional championship for volleyball. It was over time, and after we won, the boys and I celebrated, took pictures, got the medals, changed into our suits, and went to prom. That was amazing. We were in the fieldhouse playing and people were watching. We celebrated and we didn't even shower, we just changed. Then the buses were waiting out on the cement, and that was fantastic.

Q: What’s a song to describe your time at MV?

A: Not a song, but Jon Bellion.

Q: What do you want your future to look like beyond Harvard?

A: I’ll be applying to med school this coming year, and it'll probably be an MD-PhD program. I want to do some research in neuroscience, and also practice. I'm not sure how the balance between practice and research will really look like, but eventually I want to go into some kind of policy guidance into medical ethics and neuroscientific research.

Q: How did you become interested in research and neuroscience?

A: There’s kind of two parts, actually. I was always interested in medicine since middle school. I did this project on Bella Samia and I realized it’s really cool how medicine can one, look into the human body and two, fix the problems of it. So I always knew, but the research part kind of came actually partly from Mr. Clarke's class, AP Lit. The discussions about humanity and philosophy were really introductory, but it really set the path for my interest into research between philosophy and neuroscience.

Q: What advice would you give to current students?

A: I'd say just don't get too wound up in particular. I think a lot of times it's really easy to obsess over an essay grade or an exam grade, or sometimes even group drama. That's good because it means you care, but always keep it in perspective because you're there with people that you love. The friendships are definitely gonna change no matter what. Once you go off into college, you're not going to be able to spend as much time either with your family or with your friends in the same way. It’s tough to say to 14 through 18 year olds, but I think [grades, competition, and silly drama] has the most potential to make or break the high school experience.

Q: What is Harvard like in comparison to MV?

A: I think the one thing about Harvard that really struck me when I first got there was that we had nationally published poets, entrepreneurs, all at the age of 17, 18, and 19. No one goes around throwing that in other people's faces, which is incredible. You're just in the midst of extremely accomplished people and they realize that like that those accomplishments don't define them. So when you talk to them, they're not throwing it in your face and when you're achieving something, they're genuinely happy for you, and I think that just builds a much more fostering environment for personal achievement and mental health.