Top grads 2011: For Auburn’s Weber, work all adds up
Published 3:35 pm Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Editor’s note: The Auburn Reporter salutes some of the best graduating seniors from each of the Auburn School District’s four high schools. The top graduates were selected by their respective schools.
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Chris Weber is soft-spoken, humble, maybe a bit prone to glossing over his accomplishments.
But it’s worth stopping for a moment to consider all he has done.
The 17-year old Auburn native, who graduates Sunday from Auburn High School, not only carried a 4.0 grade-point average, he also was captain of the tennis team, vice president of the National Honor Society and band president, lettering all four years and making it to state this year with his trumpet. He lettered in tennis the last two years and also played varsity soccer.Weber is headed for Reed College in Oregon next fall on the wings of a full-ride academic scholarship worth about $45,000 a year. His plan is to major in math and economics. His after-college ambition is to become an economics consultant.
And if life smiles on him, he wouldn’t mind one day serving as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
With so many balls in the air, this boy must be organized to the hilt.
“Naw,” he laughed. “My mother will tell you I’m very unorganized, but I get it done. I can generally get around. I live right by the school, so anything that’s happening at school I can get to it easily. What I’ve gotten good at is blocking out my time on the calendar and knowing when I’ve got to do this and that.”
Watch how his face glows when the subject turns to his BC Calculus class and his AP economics class.
“I love calculus, I love math. I’m good at math, but my favorite class is probably my economics class. It involves math, but there’s also a lot of analytical stuff,” he said. “I want to go into economics research consulting out of college. I want to go into that because it’s a good job for people who have majored in economics and have a math background. I want eventually to get my doctorate in economics. I either want to work as a sort of expert at a research firm or be an analyst at an investment bank.”
Yeah, Weber is a very smart kid all right, but talking about it gets under his skin.
“One of my biggest annoyances is when people introduce me by saying I’m smart. I’d rather people judge me on my character and then figure out that I’m smart.
“I don’t want to be famous, I just want to make an impact. Kim Kardashian is famous, but she has no social value whatsoever. If nobody remembers my name but remembers something I did, that’d be good enough for me.”
He said his high school years taught him a lot.
“I’ve grown a lot. I’ve come out of my shell a lot,” he said. “In my freshman year, I didn’t put myself out there, I was just here. But in these last two years, maybe, I’ve gotten more involved in school rather just doing things at school. I love this place, but I’m ready for new thing.”
Alexis Moore
Alexis Moore challenges herself to do the best she can in the classroom, on the athletic field, in life.
Even a brief peek at her resume makes one wonder how the 18-year-old could have squeezed one more challenge out of her Auburn High School years.
When Moore graduates with her class Sunday, she will have an impressive list of achievements at her back.
In the classroom, Moore shone with a stellar 3.9 GPA in brain-bending classes of all stripes, including AP government and politics, AP literature and AP calculus.
She was one of the top students in debate, traveling this year to compete at the University of California, Berkeley. Characteristically, she took up debate because “I had never done that before.”
Athletically, she competed in gymnastics, track and cross country, appearing at state and nationals for gymnastics and setting the school record for the pole vault in track.
This year, Moore competed in the Miss Auburn Scholarship Pageant.
To top it off, said school counselor Jennifer Skeel, Moore shows integrity, fortitude, and friendliness.
Next fall Moore begins her studies at the University of Washington. She’s not sure yet what she wants to study, though she mentioned psychology or business as possibilities.
Moore has an advanced and refreshing conception of success.
“At first,” said Moore, “I just took harder classes because it was something I was expected to do. But for me, that’s not really how to succeed. I need to be in a class that’s little bit more challenging for me. I have three AP classes and then I had two last year and two my sophomore year.
“In sports, it’s not so much about competition,” Moore added. “I have never been a really competitive person. I try not to think about being first. I try to think about doing the best I can do that day. It distracts me if I’m thinking about where I’m going to place before I do what I need to do.”
Moore lives on the West Hill with her parents, Marvin and Rebecca Moore, her-14 year-old sister, Naomi, and her cockatiel, Sweetheart.
“Kind and adventurous, curious and kind,” Rebecca Moore said of her daughter. “Always talking to and encouraging other athletes or competitors.”
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Commencement for Auburn High School: 4 p.m., Sunday, Auburn Memorial Stadium, 800 Fourth St. NE
