Class of '23 College Outreach 

Compiled by Sophie Hansen and Jeremy Kang for Silver Quest

Q: What advice would you give to high schoolers, especially to those in the Blair Magnet?

A: Don’t take the resources of your community for granted. The program is a unique experience in that it brings together a group of people of similar interests and gives students ample opportunity to delve into them. The variety of classes and dedication of teachers is something you will rarely find outside, and I would encourage students to both recognize and take advantage of it.

Additionally, Blair itself is such an amazing experience. I give credit to Ms. Johnson specifically, who has cultivated an incredible environment for students to both learn and build memories. Because it is the biggest high school in MD, new classes are usually piloted at our school, there is no shortage of clubs to join (or start), and most importantly, the student body is ASTONISHINGLY diverse. It’s easy to get stuck in your own world, but it’s important to branch out and truly do your best to meet new people and try new things, not just your freshman year, but up until you graduate.

Q: What’s your most memorable moment from high school?

A: I think my entire cross-country experience was my most memorable part of high school, but my senior season topped it all. I got to spend every day with my closest friends and amazing coaches who had seen me grow for 4 years. I cannot express enough how much this group of people and sport changed my life in high school and I am forever grateful for it.

Q: What are the most significant differences between high school and college?

A: Doing anything outside of schoolwork, well schoolwork included, requires immeasurably more self-motivation than in high school. No one is beside you, telling you what classes to take, what clubs to join, or what to do in your free time. The freedom is both refreshing and terrifying. I think I’ve learned more about myself and what I actually like to do in these past 3 months than I have in my entire life. You learn to prioritize what is actually important to you because, wait here’s a crazy statement, college is hard.

It’s also a lot harder to make friends outside those that you just meet through convenience, i.e. roommates, people on your dorm floors, and people in your classes. Especially if you go to a big school, you often introduce yourself to new people every day and it’s interesting to see what friendships stick and which turn into just passing ‘hi’s’.

Q: What’s your favorite class you took at Blair?

A: Hip Hop History with Mr. Smith, [I] learned so much and had a lot of fun listening to great music.

Q: What was the hardest class you took in the Blair Magnet?

A: Math Phys since I had to take it with MV at the same time, and it’s just conceptually very challenging.

Q: What clubs or groups are you involved in right now in college?

A: I’m in acapella, I have a radio set, I volunteer [with] Philly teens, and I help out with social media in the engineering school.

Q: What advice would you give to high schoolers, especially in the Blair Magnet?

A: Just go out and do random stuff! You never know what you’ll end up loving and being well-versed in a lot of things is very important!

Q: What are the most significant differences between high school and college?

A: Definitely the biggest difference is just the amount of time you spend in classes versus doing everything else. When I originally got to college, I thought I would be, like, studying the whole time, and then I would just get to my room and hang [out] with friends and then go to sleep. But I have so much time between classes -- I got an on-campus job my first semester, just because I needed to fill up the time doing something other than just sitting around playing video games and whatnot.

Q: What was your favorite class that you took at Blair and why?

A: That’s really hard. It was probably one of my computer science classes with Mr. Foster, maybe [Future of Programming Languages], because it sort of [gave] me a chance to get into the whole independent, project-based computer science thing, which I found out I really enjoyed and which I’m intending to pursue in college.

Q: What do you miss the most about Blair?

A: Definitely the people. There was a great community at Blair, and it’s probably the thing I miss the most.

Q: What advice would you give to high schoolers, especially in the Blair Magnet?

A: I mean I think you hear this a lot, but don’t stress too much. You’re going to work really hard, and you’re going to feel like, depending on where you get in, like... the work you put in wasn’t proportional to what you thought you were going to get out of it. But really, the work you’ve done here is going to pay off no matter what. Just because you got the experience of working so hard, it’s going to make college feel easier by comparison, and it’s going to put you ahead of your peers, even if you don’t realize it now. Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s going to work out, and you’re going to do great.

Q: What advice would you give to high schoolers, especially in the Blair Magnet?

A: One piece of advice that has helped me a lot over the past few years has been to go out of your comfort zone. Try things you usually wouldn’t, adapt when things don’t work out, and talk to someone you haven’t before. The Blair Magnet can be cliquey at times, so don’t forget that there [are] hundreds of other students to make friends with!

Q: What was your favorite class you took at Blair?

A: Entomology. Going out each week to collect bugs doesn’t sound appealing, but it was really fun running after butterflies, trading boxelder bugs for bees, and trying to identify and label our collections in the last few classes. It’s also a nice bonus to get over your fear of insects!

Q: Are there any extracurricular activities that you’ve continued from high school to college?

A: I was a part of the ultimate frisbee team my first semester of high school, and now in my first semester of college, it’s one of my favorite extracurriculars. It’s an awesome community and we’ve had a great time as a team so far. I’ve found a lot more free time in college, so I’ve also been picking up acoustic guitar again.

Q: What are the most significant differences between high school and college?

A: Freedom. College is an exhilarating breath of liberation, and my convoluted schedule definitely reflects that. Despite what I just said, I have finally begun using time-management tools like to-do lists + planners to stay on top of all my schoolwork/extracurriculars. Balance is important! I know a lot of people that haven’t figured out how to balance out their lives, and they’re like swimming ducks--gliding on the surface, paddling comically furiously below.

Q: What clubs or extracurriculars are you involved in right now in college?

A: I’m currently a freshman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign majoring in Materials Science and Engineering. Everybody in my department, both the faculty and my peers, is absolutely fantastic to be around, which is why I took on the role of freshman rep for the club representing MatSE. I also recently began an undergraduate researcher role as part of a lab that investigates gallium nitride semiconductors.

Q: What’s your most memorable moment from high school?

A: Mr. Schwartz was raving about how great this Ethiopian place by Blair called Elilta was during multivar one day so I had to try it--and it was delicious! It’s definitely up there with Santucci’s fries or 4th-floor McDonald’s.”

Q: What advice would you give to high schoolers, especially in the Blair Magnet?

A: Get the most out of your Magnet classes as you can. That means being fully present in all your class periods, really getting to know your Magnet peers (even those you think you have nothing in common with), and never [being] afraid to form connections with your teachers. I don’t think I fully appreciated what I had with the Blair Magnet while I was still in high school.

Now, in college, the value and impact of the program is more clear to me than ever. Some of the college classes I am enrolled in now honestly pale in comparison to some of the Magnet classes I took at Blair. Besides the classes themselves, I can’t stress enough how wonderful the Blair Magnet educators are. In the same vein, the Magnet students are incredible. My peers genuinely amazed me. I don’t think I ever fully realized just how unique that level of brightness is. But now, I think about all of the students in my Magnet class with lots of fondness. I know they’re all going to do great things and change the world for the better. I learned as much from them as I did from the teachers at Blair.

Q: What’s your most memorable moment from high school?

A: From beach week to everyday lunches in the 320s hallway to Puzzle Palooza, there are so many things I look back on happily. But if I had to choose one moment that I remember evoking big feelings in me, it would have to be one that followed my first STEM arts night, the first time I remember feeling like I belonged at Blair. Up until that day, I honestly hadn’t liked Blair very much. The classes were challenging, and I didn’t have any friends. That night was the first time I remember feeling like I belonged at Blair. I had just performed a Bharatanatyam piece with two of my friends, and also a folk song with Mr. Kirk and Ms. Glenn and some other kids who kindly invited me to their Wednesday jam sessions. I realized that everyone here was multi-dimensional, just like me. And so what if maybe I didn’t share all of their passions?

We still were a passionate group of people. I like passionate people. That night was the night I realized that I could bond with those cohorts by just being myself. And that maybe high school would be great after all. (Spoiler alert: it was awesome.)

Q: Any HS activities continued in college?

A: For sure. Anushka Poddar and I founded Blair Bollywood in my senior year at Blair. I wanted to be a part of a dance group in college too, so I joined JHU Shakti, a competitive Bharatanatyam team. It has been great. We practice three times a week, so I am definitely satisfying my dance cravings, and everyone on the team is super nice.

When I was at Blair, I wrote for Silver Chips Online and later became Editor-in-Chief. SCO showed me that I really love journalism and that it is a great way to get to know communities you are a part of. So, at JHU, I joined The News-Letter.

I have talked to faculty and students and covered events, including one where I got to meet the former US ambassador to Russia. The News-Letter has helped me a ton in getting invested in the JHU community and learning about its complicated history.

Q: What do you miss the most about Blair?

A: I think what I miss the most about Blair is how small the world was. Our little Magnet cohort, our tight community, and my small circle of friends sitting in a corner eating lunch. Coming to school every day on a crowded school bus, with my lunch packed in a lunch box. Giggling about silly things in weight training class, walking to Sweet Frog after school, and abusing the after-school activity buses as a way of getting home on days when I just wanted to spend a few more hours at school.

I love the freedom college has given me and the people, but everyone is so put together, and everything is so much bigger. Everyone is an adult here. I am happy where I am, but I know nothing will ever be the way it was. The world isn’t going to get smaller now. I miss how much like home Blair had come to feel like... the coziness of it.