Chloe Lias has been at St. Margaret’s since sophomore year, and she has become passionate about computer science and FTC robotics. She has taken AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A, and has a computer science internship at UCI. She loves being on the robotics team because it is a great team environment and community, as well as building on her computer science interests. Even though Chloe loves STEM, she also loves singing, dancing, playing the guitar, and journaling. She thinks these serve as a creative and emotional outlet outside of the structured nature of school and coding.
Throughout her time in high school, Chloe has realized the importance of balancing recreational activities and academic activities to learn more about herself as a person, not just as a student. Especially because everyone changes from middle school to high school, she wants students to know that high school is a “weird and terrifying transition for everyone,” and “to relax a little bit and not take yourself too seriously.” After all, “you are not expected to make a six-figure salary as a ten-year-old, or even be super successful in high school (we are just kids!).” Chloe emphasizes that the most crucial thing to learn in high school is how to handle yourself as a young adult and “tip your toe into the waters of life.”
For older students working on their college applications, Chloe has realized that the pool of colleges is HUGE, and she would advise students to narrow down their options as much as possible. Even though she does not expect students to know exactly what they want to do in their futures, she advises others to find general “limiting factors” and criteria to shrink the pool of potential schools (ex. in California and with quality computer science programs) because it is impossible to apply everywhere.
As Chloe prepares for her final year at St. Margaret’s, she has been reflecting on her experiences these past few years and planning for her senior year. First, she thought AP US History was a pretty fast-paced and content-heavy class, but she loved English III honors, primarily because of Ms. Bunch. She has also concluded that black licorice is awful, sheep are adorable, and spiders are scary. Chloe is looking forward to Candle Lighting, “Senior Sticker Assassin,” and taking AP Psychology. But, after learning concurrently most of last year, she is most excited to see her friends again, hang out with them, and experience a more ‘normal’ school year.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
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