Jonathan Chou
Jenks High School
Attending: Duke University
Major: Engineering
What are characteristics that make you stand out from the rest of your graduating class?
I think modern-day American culture encourages teenagers to shy away from subjects and activities that are hard or difficult to them because of the “do what you love” mentality that educators and parents have promoted. In the past, I hated all subjects but math because it naturally came easy to me. But even then, instead of encouraging me to pursue math, my parents pushed me to take the hardest honors and AP history, English and science classes to prepare me for an important life skill: At times, you will inevitably find yourself doing something that you may not like, and you must learn to endure it. Thankfully, I gradually became interested in subjects outside of math, and school became more bearable.
