Pierce W.
About Me
Music is a huge part of my life. Even when I'm not practicing violin and I am simply sitting at the dinner table, doing homework, or taking a walk outside, there's almost always some piece of music playing in my head. When I was two and a half, my parents decided to start me on the violin and since then I haven't stopped. I spend every Saturday I can at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where I take private lessons, play chamber music, take music theory classes, and participate in a contemporary music ensemble. On March 19th, 2014 when I was 10 years old, I appeared on an NPR radio show named, "From the Top." This show was a life-changing experience for me and showed me just a glimpse of the extent of the power of music. It was also a really memorable experience making the acquaintance of Sir James Galway, a flute legend, and playing a duet with him. In addition to the violin, I absolutely love (or, as my family and friends would say—am obsessed) with a software package called "Emacs" and use it in every aspect of my life to keep it more organized. I use org-mode (a package in Emacs) to keep track of all my to do's and, using a simple program I created, all my assignments from Canvas (Stanford OHS) can be easily downloaded, parsed, and formatted to my liking through two keystrokes from within Emacs. I use it for tasks far and wide—even managing emails! I also love programming in general and in any spare time I have, am usually working on some programming project.
Why I Chose Stanford OHS
I applied for Stanford OHS because I wanted to have the chance to learn and grow at Stanford OHS as my brothers did. My brothers had been enrolled for a few years and is the younger brother that I was, I wanted in on the action! So, I joined Stanford OHS as early as I possibly could. Before Stanford OHS, I was in an online charter school where I was taught by my mother. The prior experience of being around technology made Stanford OHS a comfortable fit because I knew the ins and outs of a non-brick-and-mortar school. Outside of school, I practice many hours of violin a day and the Stanford OHS program allows me enough time to do so. This school has given me the best chance at reaching my academic and extracurricular goals with academic rigor and flexible scheduling.
What I Love About Stanford OHS
When I started Stanford OHS, I already had a rough idea of what it was like because both of my brothers were students here. However, what I found after becoming a part of the community was beyond my expectations. I had become a part of a school where I felt I could fully participate in classes and where the resources to thrive were provided readily. One of these resources is the core curriculum—one of my favorite things about Stanford OHS. Learning philosophy adds another dimension to all of the other material taught here. Being able to argue about human nature, the purpose of government, the philosophy of religion, and more expands your horizon and requires you to challenge and substantiate your world views in a way that I now believe is crucial to one's full flourishing as a student.