Biography
I emerged from the womb on September 16. 1985. There has been some debate since then as to whether this was a wisemove---life in utero was slightly more comfortable, considerably simpler, and much less expensive than autonomous life; and I believe I got more sleep as a fetus than I've been able to total over the rest of my life. However, it is a personal principle of mine not to dwell overmuch on past mistakes, and so I direct the reader’s attention to the subsequent events in my life. Like most of the other twenty-three superhero alter-egos featured on these pages, I’ve exhibited a precocious interest in reading, math, and science--especially physics-since before I can remember. I attended a Montessori school from kindergarten to sixth grade, and have been at the mercy of the Maryland public school system from seventh grade on. I am currently a senior at South River High School. an institution that is neither magnet nor particularly technically- oriented, but still fairly decent as far as public schools go. I'm looking forward to attending either Caltech (which has awarded me an Axline full-tuition merit scholarship) or MIT in the fall, where I may choose to major in theoretical math, theoretical physics, or both. I generally don't enjoy bragging about awards and such, so I'll limit that sort of thing to merely mentioning being on the US Physics Team two years ago (and being chosen as the alternate for the traveling team). At home. I amuse myself by captaining the school math team and quiz bowl team, coordinating service projects as secretary of the school service club, and volunteering as a reader at my local Catholic church. I've also made a bit of a theater buff out of myself in recent years, having starred in several plays and musicals (including playing the title role in Pippin) put on by the South River Theatre Company. And finally, no autobiography of mine would be complete without a shout out to Canada/USA Mathcamp, a five-week summer program that I attended in 2000, '01 and '02. Mathcamp taught me more college-level math than I could shake a pencil at and more importantly, gave me an invaluable network of friends and mentors across the continent and beyond.