Contents

General Information:

David will graduate from Seaford High School in the spring of 1998. During his high school career, he has taken part in the accelerated Academic Challenge Program. With this, he will have attained 33 credit hours at the University of Delaware in the subject areas of Mathematics and English. During his high school career, he has also pursued his interest in Computer Science by teaching himself C/C++, Pascal, Java, HTML; dabbling in x86 assembly language; building a couple of web sites and programming a few applets and utilities. Currently he is dabbling in Linux, and enjoying himself partying with his friends.

Objective:

To attain a Masters and/or Doctorate in Computer Science and work either for the NSA or in the industry, or to do research and teach at a university; to meet a wonderful woman; to live my days having found joy in life.

Academic Coursework Taken During High School:

Key: Regular High School, Academic Challenge Program, Advanced Placement, University of Delaware, course to be taken in my senior year
This list excludes Health, Gym, and Driver's Education
Click here for course descriptions.
Science: H Biology I, H Chemistry I, Independent Study Computer Science AB, H Chemistry II, H Physics, H Biology II
Math: Geometry, Trigonometry, Intro. to Statistics I, Intro. to Statistics II, Calculus A, Calculus B, Calculus C, Ordinary Differential Equations
English: Oral Communications, Writing with Word Power, Literary Criticism, Great Readings, Critical Reading & Writing, Intro. to Poetry, Journalism, Intro. to Drama, Journalism II, Short Story, Journalism III
Social Studies: H World Cultures, CP European History, H US History, H Political and Economic Systems
Other: German I, German II, German III, Emergency Medical Training (EMT-Basic), German IV

Standardized Test Scores:

Test Date Score 
 SAT I : Reasoning Test 
 01/97 
 V:710 (R) M:800 (R) 
 SAT II : Writing Test 
 01/97 
720 (R)
 
 SAT II : Math IIC 
 01/97 
800 (R)
 
 ACT 
 12/96 
 Composite: 31 

   

   

      
 AP Computer Science AB 

       
96

       
5
 		
   

   

      
 AP US History 

       
97

       
5
 		
   

   

      
 DE State Ambulance Attendant Written Exam 

       
97

       
95%
 		
   















   
HS and UD GPA: 4.0

   
Class Rank: 1 out of 261






   (on a straight 4.0 scale)












Extracurricular Activities



   

      
         

         ThinkQuest 96 - Team Leader; I devoted every waking hour for three months to this project.  Out of this came three Java applets, and quite a few web pages.  I also wrote a technical paper on 3D Stereogram generation which won the Jars Top 1% award and was subsequently sited by Fritz Thelusma, a student at MIT, in a project  on stereograms and the human visual system. <http://tqd.advanced.org/2647/> The site has gotten more than 12,000 hits.         
         

      		

      
         Grade 10.5
      
   


   

      
         

         Math League - Made the Delaware Team to ARML each year by being in the top 30 scoring in the state.
         

      		

      
         Grades 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         School Paper - Editor-in-Chief, Opinions Editor, Writer
         

      		

      
      Grades 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         Junior Class Play - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"  I played Sir Dandiprat Bombas, the pompous and often confused Court Chamberlain.  I worked long hours with a skeleton crew, staying after nights to get the lights right and coming on weekends to work on sets when only two other people were there. 
         

      		

      
         Grades 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         School Web Site - I currently head the team managing the Seaford High School web site. <http://www.seaford.k12.de.us/>
         

      		

      
         Grade 12
      
   




   

      
         

            


Governor’s School for Excellence (week)

American Legion Boy’s State (week)

Bill Roth Youth Leadership Conference (day)

County Government Day (day)

ACLF-DE Civil Liberties Conference (day)


These were state-wide events where I attended seminars and met new people.
            

         

      		

      
Grade 10.5

Grade 11.5

Grade 11

Grade 11

Grade 11
      		
   


   

      
         

         German Club - (Treasurer)
         

      		

      
         Grades 10, (11)
      
   


   

      
         

         Public Debate - I served on the three-person anti-Block Scheduling panel in the city-wide public debate over Block Scheduling in Seaford High School.         
         

      		

      
         Grade 10
      
   


   

      
         

         ACP Creativity Team - We put on Whatchamacallit! ,  a regional competition between local high schools and the end-of-the-year awards ceremony for the Academic Challenge Program.
         

      		

      
         Grades 8, 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         Tutoring in Calculus - While I was taking Calculus A and B at UD, back in ninth grade, I led cram and review sessions with two or three of my classmates before the tests and exams.  More recently, I have used my Calculus tutoring skills to earn some spending money
         

      		

      
         Grades 10, 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         Helping people with Computers - I am constantly called upon to help fix teachers’ and neighbors’ computers and printers.  I fix simple software problems, show people how to use their software, install new hardware, etc.  Basically, I’m the local computer handyman.
         

      		

      
         Grades 9, 10, 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         Christmas Caroling - with Trinity United Methodist Church
         

      		

      
         Grades 10, 11
      
   


   

      
         

         Texaco Star Academic Challenge (Nerd Bowl) 
         

      		

      
         Grades 11, 12
      
   


   

      
         

         Baby-sitting - I occasionally babysit.  Sometimes I sit for my old teacher’s  four children and other times it’s my nephew Zacchaeus. 
         

      		

      
         Grades 8, 9, 10, 11
      

   

      
         

         Knowledge Master - Seaford HS team 
         

      		

      
         Grades 10, 11
      
   


   

      
         

         Original Staff Play - Played the lead role of Reggie Blanchard, a Hollywood Agent
         

      		

      
         Grade 7
      
   


   

      
         

         Charity  - Raised $560 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through a middle school band "Practice-a-thon"
         

      		

      
         Grade 5
      
   








Books Read This Year:



   

       

      

    

  •  At Least this Place Sells T-Shirts (A Foxtrot Collection)

  •  Catcher in the Rye

  •  A Clockwork Orange

  •  The C++ Programming Language

  •  Ecclesiastes

  •  The Enduring Vision : A History of the American People 

  •  Microserfs 

  •  Running Linux 

  •  Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days 


      		
   







Awards:




JARS (Java Applet Rating Service) Top 1% Web Applet & JARS Top 10 for September 1996 for StereoGrinder and accompanying technical paper.






Xerox Award in the Humanities/Social Sciences - I was chosen as top student in the area of Social Sciences in my class at Seaford High School.






Bausch and Lomb Award in the Sciences  - I was chosen as top student in the area of Sciences in my class at Seaford High School.






Valedictorian - I am currently at the top of my class with a 4.00 GPA (straight, no weights)






UD Academic Excellence Recognition






ACP Excellence Awards - Calculus A/B, Calculus C, E110:Critical Reading and Writing  - I was chosen as the outstanding student in the Academic Challenge Program in these courses, competing against the top students from the rest of the county, those in the ACP.






JARS Top 5% for September 1996 for Mandelbrot and Julia Set Explorer






Distinguished Honor Roll - Grades 9, 10, 11






National Merit - Recognition Letter so far






National German Test - Grade 10: 97th Percentile , Grade 11: 88th Percentile






German Oral Contest  - Grade 10: 2nd in DE for my level of German 






Math League - Math League Grades 5-8 various local awards, first place at the State Invitational, etc.; Grade 11: 6th in State, gone to ARML every year






Top Student - in too many HS classes to list






CTY Talent Search & UD Scholarship - Two books, a certificate, and a scholarship for one course at the University of Delaware for scoring a 1220 on the SAT in grade 7.






Who’s Who Among America’s High School Students






Other Fun Things I Do:



Society for Creative Anachronism and wearing a kilt - Though I’m not trained in heavy weapons – I’d have to be 18 in the East anyway – SCA events are gobs of fun.  English country dancing, feasting, singing old drinking songs and admiring each other’s garb is a lot of fun (not to mention the flirting that goes on at events).  Though I haven’t really chosen a persona yet, I usually dress as a Scot.  This past prom I arrived in a great kilt, full with sword and dagger.  My date, Judith of Northumbria, was dighted in a beautiful silken Italian Renaissance dress.  People were still gossiping a week later.





Drama - I love acting.  It’s one of my passions, and when we’re putting on a show, I don’t mind the long hours or peoples’ frustration.  Being in a play is so much fun. I’ve seen Les Misérables on Broadway and frequent the local players’ group’s plays.





Linux - I am currently setting up and learning how to use Linux.  I have X and printing up, but have yet to get networking up.  Hopefully I’ll get to learning TEX this summer.





Programming - I wrote a technical paper on Stereograms with a Java stereogram generator that was very well received (see Extracurricular Activities).  I also dabbled in 3D graphics a couple of years ago, writing and debugging an n-vertex polygon rasterizer and a small, imperfect implementation of the painter’s algorithm.  In the process, I wrote a small collection of functions in assembler to switch around video modes and make some x86 protected mode descriptors.  I also wrote a cute little Win32 program using VC++ 2.0 to show the solving of the 8-queens problem.  Prospective projects (read: will get to in the two seconds per year that I’m not busy doing something else)  include a statistics package, and a Java version of "Paint By Number" as seen in GAMES magazine, and perhaps a 3D engine.





Revelry - Good clean fun with friends is always great.  During the past few months, I have been to more parties than I care to count.  Frisbee, music, water fun, movies, and pizza can be a great combination;  especially when flirting is in the mix.  Going to the movies, a midnight gallivant around the neighborhood, and cast parties add spice to the monotony of school and studying.  Or a weekend at an SCA event can be good too…





Music - Though I left my high school’s chorus for religious reasons, I greatly enjoy listening to music.  My diverse collection includes the Cranberries, Billie Holiday, Vladimir Horowitz, Led Zeppelin, Peter Paul and Mary, R.E.M., the Smashing Pumpkins, and U2 among many others.





Writing - When I am inspired, I write prose and poetry.





Vacationing - I enjoy rock climbing, and hiked the 9-mile Panorama Trail of Yosemite National Park last summer.  We toured the bay area and I took in Palo Alto.  The year before my father, his fiancée and I visited Harper’s Ferry, WV and hiked to look-out point in the overlooking Maryland Heights (This was in the heart of the Appalachian Trail.)  All the while, I was reading books on Windows and Java and diagramming UIs.  Three years ago, I went white-water rafting down the Shenandoah River with a group from Camp Pecometh.