Age: 15
After Touchstone?
Westborough High School
Current endeavors (professional, hobbies, family life)
Football, spring track, rock band
Favorite Touchstone memory:
Wow, there are so many, it’s so hard to choose from. I’d have to say that one of my favorite memories was my last recess before I had to leave for Israel for a year. There weren’t enough teachers for us to play football, but instead of me not being able to play football for the last time, the teachers moved the entire recess to the lower field so we could play. I scored on the final play and won the game for my team.
How did Touchstone prepare you for what you do today?
I am a very successful student at Westborough High. I actually wasn’t quite sure how Touchstone prepared me until half way through my freshman year when we had to take midterms. Everyone I knew was panicking because they had to study and memorize stuff for 7 different subjects. I, on the other hand, did not have trouble studying for my midterms at all, because when we learned material in class, I actually learned it. I didn’t just memorize it like everybody else did. That is certainly a skill that Touchstone gave me: how to learn the material as opposed to memorizing it.
Freshman year, Spanish was my hardest class. Coming from Touchstone, Pep had recommended me to take Spanish II Honors, even though I had never taken a true Spanish I class. It was clear to me the first day that I was out of place, because while the rest of the class knew how to conjugate verbs, I wasn’t clear on what a Spanish verb was! Regardless, I stuck with the class instead of moving down. In the beginning, I was just managing to scrape by with D-s and Ds. But one thing that Touchstone taught me was even if you don’t get something, try it anyway. I did all my work and participated as much as I could, because I needed to try it. I found a good method for me to learn in that class (also a skill given to me by Touchstone: different learning methods) and at the end of the year I ended up with an A-.
Touchstone also prepared me for football. At Touchstone, I was taught to play fair and nice, and to include everybody. While at Touchstone, I really discovered how a team functioned as a group, and I have been able to carry that over to high school football, even though the competitiveness is at a whole different level. I am proud to say that I am now one of the most respected sophomores on the team, because I know how to treat my teammates with respect and I know how our team works as a group.