Hollister
– Speaking about his academic accomplishments is not of much
interest to senior Peter Pham, although they are numerous.
Hollister – Speaking about his academic accomplishments is not of much interest to senior Peter Pham, although they are numerous.
The 17-year-old San Benito High School student would much rather continue studying for his next academic venture: Stanford University in the fall, or escape to a world of computer programming.
Pham has been chosen as valedictorian for his senior class, and was also named a recipient of the prestigious National Merit Scholarship. Pham was chosen for this award because of his impressive test scores. He received four perfect scores on his SAT IIs, in the subject areas of chemistry, physics, verbal and mathematics, and has maintained all As throughout his four years of high school.
But despite these achievements, Pham remains modest.
When Pham found out he had been chosen as one of only 15,000 recipients to win the $2,500 National Merit Scholar award nationwide, he was fairly unfazed. His parents, however, were ecstatic, as were administrators at SBHS.
Patricia Lopez, Pham’s counselor at the high school, said she was very excited to hear that a San Benito High School student had been chosen to receive this honor.
“This student is very impressive,” Lopez said.
When Pham goes to Stanford, he plans to study computer engineering, which has interested him since he was young. He began doing computer programming when he was 10 years old.
“Programming is very abstract; it removes you from reality,” he said. “It’s kind of like making your own world in the machine.”
Besides computer programming, Pham also tries to find time between his two to three hours of studying on an average night for his other hobbies. He enjoys origami and the strategic board game Go.
“One of my cousins mentioned (Go) a while back, and I found it to suit my personality,” Pham said.
Although Pham will have slightly more time for his hobbies during the summer. After a week hiatus, he plans to resume studying, to prepare himself for his freshman year at Stanford.
Pham plans to study calculus and Vietnamese over the summer, and hopefully learn Japanese.
