SNAPSHOTS
One thing you cannot live without: My computer mouse
Worse habit: Procrastinating
Breakfast for dinner or lunch for breakfast: Lunch for breakfast
If you could live in a historical place, where would it be?: Steppes in Mongolia
Biggest achievement this school year: Getting my college paid for
ZOOMING IN
Q: What college will you attend? What is your intended major, and why that major?
A: “I’m going to Harvard, and my intended major is still not decided yet. I’m either going to do applied math, specifically in computer science, with a minor in statistics. Or, I’ll do mechanical engineering with a minor in economics.”
Q: What extracurriculars have you been involved in throughout high school?
A: “Academic Decathlon, robotics and Students Against Period Poverty are the main ones, and then some independent side projects on the side.”
Q: What was the most challenging aspect about balancing extracurriculars and academics?
A: “It’s just prioritizing time a lot of the time. I mean I’ve had to miss some robotics meets because of time conflicts and just having to study, especially for my physics class, it’s definitely very demanding. So it’s just balancing time, and then making time for yourself to enjoy being with my friends and playing games.”
Q: What class was the most challenging for you? Why?
A: “The class in high school that continues to be and will forever be the most challenging is AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism. I kind of suck at applying physics principles to calculus. I’m getting better, but it’s definitely just a challenge to kind of think abstractly, in a sense, when you’re doing physics, and some of the time you’re using variables that aren’t usually so explicit on what they mean.”
Q: Who has helped you the most throughout these last four years? How have they helped you?
A: “The person who has helped me the most throughout my four years of high school is without a doubt my sister, Katerin Daniela Chicas. She inspired me to push myself. Additionally, she provided me with a framework to success. Although there were a lot of stressors in her life, she still pushed through and kept herself accountable in school. She helped me out when I would ask her for advice on school and non-school related problems. To me, she is one of the greatest factors that got me into Harvard. The love and support she has demonstrated will never be matched.”
Q: What has been the most memorable part of high school?
A: “Playing a lot of video games with friends in class. I mean really, we should be studying, but you know, it’s fun just to enjoy my time with my friends because sometimes I don’t have a lot of available space to hang out with them after school or during the weekends.”
Q: What advice would you give to your freshman self?
A: “I would say, start doing your own thing, you know? And try to just do more independent stuff, like the independent projects I was doing in this summer of junior year, and maybe study for the SAT a little. But just do you, don’t try to be that extracurricular guy doing whatever there is and stick to a few that really interest you and grow from that.”
Q: What are you most excited about regarding college?
A: “Definitely the atmosphere, and just being with a bunch of people that have similar goals to me or just want to do a whole lot better in life. And I’ll be up in Boston, Massachusetts so getting used to that winter over there and the three feet of snow they have. But it’s really just meeting people and being able to connect with people around the world especially, And just building toward different goals, you know? There’s people who do startups, people who just want to do medicine, some blog practices, and all that. Just getting to meet those people and become familiar with the whole array of different fields.”
Q: What would you change about your high school experience?
A: “There’s not really much I would really change, although I didn’t get into my dream college, that doesn’t really matter. I’ll still say I had a good experience, just definitely focusing on myself a lot more and just doing a lot of the things I want to do. I’m making time for friends a lot because junior year especially I didn’t have as much time to be with them because I had a lot of school and extracurriculars going on.”
Q: Where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years?
A: “I want to build toward retiring early, but I want to be able to own some type of asset, whether it be a business or stock, that will just make me money on the side where I just don’t have to work as hard. And eventually, I’ll be able to retire by 35 to 40.”
