Jenny Wong

I think the community. I know this is similar to all the ISL schools, but from what I’ve seen, at Thayer, all the teachers actually care about your success and your day-to-day life. The same goes for the faculty and students. Everyone brings an energy to them that shows they actually care, and I think that’s very important!

I plan to study chemistry because I took AP Chemistry junior year and I absolutely loved it! It could have partly been because of Mr. Donovan, but I really loved each topic even if it was super hard to do and understand at the moment. I chose Amherst College because I attended a fly-in program in the fall where I got to stay there for a weekend and attend some classes. When I was there, I loved all the students, many of them came up to you and just talked and that just showed me how welcoming the community was! Also, the other students who attended the fly-in program were so sweet, and although they felt different from Thayer, they still had a vibe to them that was so sweet! They were also very fun to talk to while still being very academically motivated… like they made me feel like I had to be more motivated.

I think APUSH challenged me the most because I’m not very good at memorizing and I don’t really like history, but with Mr. Springer, he made me love it for the first time. There was a lot of writing that I had to do and wasn’t really expecting how much reading and writing you would have to do, but throughout the class, each thing Springer assigned us made me get better. Although it was super hard and annoying to do in the moment, it was extremely rewarding to feel that I actually understood it and could explain it to someone else. It also made me appreciate history more because it’s the basis of everything basically.

I think mostly the classes being a lot harder. At my middle school, a lot of the classes felt hard, but weren’t really that bad. However, at Thayer, it has been a lot different. Because of the class difficulties, I have had to actually learn new ways to study instead of just memorizing it.

I feel like a lot of movies I could watch over again because they’re very nostalgic and I definitely have movies that I rewatch all the time. I love some Tangled, Mulan, or Moana, but I also love To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. However, the most recent one that I think I could watch over and over again is Project Hail Mary.

I think in general, my mom definitely inspires me. She is always so caring and everyday when I would stay up until midnight or one, she would be so caring and asked if I needed anything because she could see that I was so stressed. Everyday, she works so hard to give my brother and I the best and I love her so much for that. She is also super understanding when it comes to my last minute plans that I make with my friends which is super nice.

Honestly, probably my APUSH class because after taking that class, I felt like I was a lot more involved in the community. It could be because of my friends, but I just really felt like I had people I could talk to and loved being with them!

I feel like everyone I’ve talked to has been so supportive. Literally anytime I tell someone some good news, I know they will be happy for me and I’m so thankful for them. Also, on the other hand, anytime I tell them something that is troubling me, they don’t brush me off, they genuinely try to help me and reach a solution which is amazing.

I think Winter Wars. Even though I wasn’t super into it at first, I loved it as time went on.