By Neive Rodriguez
Described as “A Rick & Morty character come to life,” senior Max Pearson is an outgoing and focused IB student with big plans for the future.
Pearson is involved in the LHS swim team and is an Eagle Scout recipient of the Boy Scouts of America, the highest ranking attainable. Pearson also excels in his science and mathematics classes and shares his skills with other students through tutoring.
At a young age, Pearson developed a great interest in outer space which has shaped his life goals and aspirations. One of the most remarkable things about Pearson is that he has already outlined exactly what he wants to do with his life, and why.
“My life goal is to be the first man on Mars,” Pearson said. “This has been my goal since I was four years old. At that age I found a large interest in space and I found that I was really good at science and enjoyed it.”
The reason why Pearson has this goal is because of his desire to make the world a better place.
“The idea of exploring new worlds [is] the idealism of the American Dream,” Pearson said. “I could be a pioneer, a leader, a role-model for people. And it’s still my dream, because I want to do great things with my life and make sure that I can make the world a better place through that.”
The interests that Pearson has in the science and mathematics fields are not only because he is skilled in those areas, but because of his great fascination and enjoyment in them.
“My strongest subject would be chemistry and thinking about how life is created from these simple building blocks and how these complex systems are created from just a few different molecules,” Pearson said.
Pearson also uses his skill in these subjects to tutor other students.
“The main subjects I tutor students in are the STEM field, so mainly biology, chemistry and math,” Pearson said. “I think the best way to feel that you know a subject is to teach it to someone else and, because of that, I have taken the joy of teaching my fellow students.”
Pearson believes that although the IB program is extremely hard work, it’s important that beginning IB students realize make sure that they are still able to find an aspect of it that they enjoy.
“Make sure when you’re in IB you are finding something about it that you love,” Pearson said. “Make sure that you are either enjoying the teachers or that you enjoy the subjects that you are doing. Make sure that you are enjoying your experience.”
For Pearson, he finds this enjoyment through the freedom the IB program gives students to decide what topics they would like to explore deeper.
“The most rewarding thing about the IB program is the liberty it gives you to choose your field of study,” Pearson said. “So, I got to choose the classes I take; I get to choose the subjects I research. One of the things I’m doing in chemistry right now is that I’ve actually created a plastic, because I got really interested in how polymers were created, so I decided to find a chemical and figure out how i could polymerize it.”
Pearson is considering attending the California Institute of Technology after he graduates in 2019, but he has other options as well.
“My dream is to go to Caltech, which is the MIT of California, and work for the jet propulsion laboratories,” Pearson said. “If I’m not able to attend CalTech, then my plan is to go to somewhere that would give me a full ride such as Illinois Tech or Nebraska Wesleyan to get a degree in biochemistry, because I think that a degree in biochemistry and studying the origins of life would be what would best prepare me to be an astronaut.”
Although Pearson’s high school career has been full of success, he does have one regret about life in the past 4 years.
“I don’t have a girlfriend, yet,” Pearson said with a smile.
