Name: Forest 

Graduation Year: 2026

Middle School: Redwood Day

Hometown: Oakland

 

Why did you choose College Prep? I chose College Prep because, of all the schools I visited, it seemed to have the most accepting community and seemed to be the only school where every student genuinely seemed excited to learn.

 

What is the biggest difference between middle school and high school? For me the biggest difference between middle and high school has been the homework and classwork. I felt like the classwork at my middle school felt too slow and easy and the homework felt like busy work. That all changed when I came to College Prep. All the classwork is thought provoking and stimulating. The homework feels like it furthers learning instead of just repeating whatever we learned in class that day.

What is your favorite place on campus? I have two favorite places on campus: the library and the music lawn. These are the two places I go for almost every free period. I love the library because it's a kind of central hub. It's warm, it's got soft couch seats, and it's where a lot of students go when they don't have class. You're pretty much guaranteed to find a table full of people to sit with or study with or mess around with. I love the music lawn because it feels like my solitary space on campus. When I need to be productive, or just feel like sitting alone watching people walk by, or watching leaves fall from the trees, that's where I go.

 

What has been your favorite class so far? My favorite class was physics. I have been interested in physics for a while, but it was College Prep physics that got me excited enough to start reading physics books outside of class and exploring my passion for the subject.

 

What is your favorite thing about College Prep? My favorite thing about College Prep is a certain quality that the school has that's a little hard to describe. All I can really call it is the general vibe of the school. It's partially the love of learning that everyone has, partially how dedicated all of the faculty is, and partially how accepting and kind everyone is. To put it simply, what I love most about College Prep is its uniquely wonderful community culture.

 

What is your favorite character from a movie/book/television series? My answer to this question changes from day to day but right now I would have to say Nick Carraway from the Great Gatsby. While he is a deeply flawed character I think that just makes him feel more real. Nick is good and bad, smart and stupid, exciting and boring, just like everyone. No one is completely good or completely bad, I feel like the depth in Nick's character shows how we all live in the gray area between our ill defined conceptions of good and bad.

 

1. I learned how to juggle from a YouTube video.

2. I do origami with post-it notes during some classes as a fidget.

3. I have a vinyl record collection and I'm actually listening to the album Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd on my record player right now.