What are some educational, personal and professional highlights and/or accomplishments of yours since graduating from high school?

I can’t believe it’s been more than 10 years now since I graduated from Andover! Since then, I graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where I was able to gain unique work experience at various internships at national and global nonprofits and NGOs before I entered the working world.Since graduating from college, I’ve worked in content and product marketing at tech companies including 2U Inc. and HubSpot, and I currently work at Owl Labs, where we make intelligent 360° video conferencing cameras to support hybrid collaboration (which has become extremely important in the last year).

After living and working in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado after college, I moved back to the Boston area five years ago, and my husband and I got married and moved into our first home together in 2020.
 

What is a favorite ������Ƶ/CDB memory?

I have so many wonderful memories from my time as a CDB Scholar, and now, a CDB alum.

During my senior year of high school, the annual CDB seminar was held in Cambridge, MA, and everyone participated in an incredibly challenging and fun scavenger hunt that I still remember when I’m trying to find my way around a new part of the city. At another seminar as an alum, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of ������Ƶ at the Barder House in Pasadena, and it was so powerful and humbling to hear from ������Ƶ founders, staff, and benefactors and see the impact ������Ƶ has had on so many kids and families over the years.

On a more personal level, I attended my first CDB wedding in 2019, and it was so fun to celebrate such an important milestone with friends I’ve had for almost 15 years.

What words of wisdom would you pass on to current ������Ƶ students?

The friendships I built with other CDB Scholars and students at Andover are some of my strongest and longest-lasting friendships today, despite being separated by distance and not seeing them in-person very often. By taking the time to invest in relationships with your peers and ������Ƶ teachers and staff while you’re a student, you can maintain these connections wherever you go next in the world. 

There’s little disagreement that the past year-plus has had its share of challenges and obstacles brought on by the pandemic. While few demographics were spared, student were hit especially hard by the demands of virtual school and the almost complete lack of campus and outside activities and socialization with friends and classmates. Until very recently, this year’s graduating class of high school seniors were pretty much “flying blind” to quote a CDB Scholar when it came to visiting any college and university. And those rare campuses that did allow visitors on site offered no campus tours, in person interviews or informational sessions outside of Zoom webinars, with their student community attending virtual classes.

High school seniors also faced the reality that many of the nation’s highly selective colleges and universities dealt with a surge in applications, as the previously mandated SAT and ACT tests were optional for the 2021 application year. This resulted in applicants who previously would not have met test standards stipulated at certain universities and colleges took the attitude of “what do I have to lose?” and applied to schools that in another year might have been out of reach by virtue of their test scores.

In spite of this changing college application landscape, the CDB high school seniors—the class of 2021—persevered and figured out alternative ways to conduct their college research. As a class, they applied to over sixty colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Many of the senior Scholars reached out to CDB alumni who currently attend the colleges and universities they were interested in learning more about from insiders at the various schools. I was delighted to hear back from many CDB seniors that the CDB alumni not only responded to their inquiries by phone, email and Zoom sessions, but also reached out to them to let the seniors know who they were and what particular schools they attend to start a dialogue. As more schools opened up in April and May, some of the seniors were able to visit the colleges where they were admitted and meet with CDB alums in person—masked and safely socially distanced.

This year’s CDB seniors will matriculate to colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad, schools that match their academic interests and offer them the opportunity to pursue ongoing areas of interest as well as many course possibilities to explore. One CDB  Scholar will be taking a gap year and plans to pursue advanced educational and service projects before starting college in 2022. Another CDB Scholar will be attending Oxford University in England.

CDB Scholars from the class of 2021 have been recognized with multiple academic, service and achievement awards and recognition including Presidential Scholars, National Merit Scholar Finalists, Valedictorians and Saluditorians of their class as well as matriculating to honors programs at their upcoming colleges and universities.

CDB welcomed ten new schools and programs to our international list of colleges and universities attended by CDB Scholars since the inaugural class of 2002 Scholars. Here is a list of the schools and programs the CDB class of 2021 will attend this coming fall. Several Scholars are still deciding among their admission options:

• Brown University
• Brown University’s PLME program (an eight year program for students who are committed to a career in medicine and who also want a broad liberal arts education)
• Bryn Mawr College
• Columbia University
• California University of Technology
• Columbia University
• Georgetown University
• George Washington University
• Harvard College
• Macalister College
• Oxford University
• Stanford University
• University of Florida Stamps Scholar Program
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Pennsylvania Management and Technology Program
• University of Texas  Agriculture and Mechanical Honors Program
• Washington and Lee University
• Webb Institute
• Wellesley College
• Whitman College

The ������Ƶ and CDB communities wish our graduating high School seniors a successful and engaging next chapter of their lives and look forward to staying in contact with them as they continue to thrive.

Every gifted child has a unique story. The following story is the second in a series of posts highlighting gifted children and adults we have found through ������Ƶ programs, depicting the many faces of gifted. Sophia is an alumna of the program, which awards highly gifted applicants with a four-year scholarship to a high school that fits their individual intellectual and personal needs. Here, she shares the experience she had volunteering in New Orleans.

This March, I went on an Alternative Spring Break trip with 105 other George Washington University students to New Orleans, Louisiana, where we worked in public schools and built houses for seven days.

The process to get to and from New Orleans from Washington was organized and led by students. We asked for spare change at subway stations, wrote grant proposals, did letter writing and online donating campaigns, sponsored each other in marathons, and forged partnerships with local vendors to share some of their profits with us. We rode a bus for 22 hours each way to get there, stayed at a sleepaway Christian summer camp in rooms full of bunk beds that slept near 40, and ate the cheapest food you could ever imagine, but we managed to stay within our means.

The service was a rewarding and fun way to meet other students like me who are passionate about service to others and put in tangible terms the power of people to change and affect the lives of others for the better. I worked with 6th and 8th grade students in a KIPP Public Charter School, and I worked with half of the students on the trip to work towards the completion of one house and began the foundation of another. Our entire crew completed three homes and began one more. We also talked to Teach For America Corps members about their time working in New Orleans schools, and public charter school administrators about the process of improving New Orleans school systems post-Hurricane Katrina.

The trip was my first ever visit to New Orleans, and not only was I able to experience the vibrant culture of the city, but I learned more about the challenges and adversity that have faced our fellow Americans since Katrina in 2005 and how much more is still left to be done. As an international affairs student passionate about global health, public service, and education, my trip was an amazing opportunity to work domestically to help the lives of others, and however great or small our impact had, it was gratifying to know that we were part of the effort to rebuild New Orleans.

Thanks for sharing your story, Sophia! Have you or your kids participated in any service activities like Sophia’s? What was your experience? Please share with us in the comment section below!

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