Charlie Adams (12-1) Senior Spotlight

Starting on the boy’s varsity basketball team, how would you say playing a sport—especially basketball—affected your time at Masterman or you as a person?

It has definitely helped keep me busy; it is nice to have that commitment to help me focus. During the season, basketball is almost always the highlight of my day, making school fun. 

It also taught me the value of hard work. In 10th grade, I was on the bench; in 11th, I started in the ladder half of the season; and in 12th, I was a starter for every game. Seb (Sebastian Goldstein—class of 2022) taught me the value of hard work and the importance of improving myself. This mentality has also been beneficial in school, pushing me to become the best version of myself, on and off the court.

Being at Masterman from 6th to 12th grade, what is one piece of advice you would like to share with first-year students? 

Temper your expectations. This school has a lot of hype around it, depending on where you are coming from. It is rigorous, but it is definitely manageable. Don’t think you are getting into some like “magnificent new deal” by coming to Masterman. Do not worry about the “oh Masterman #1 magnet school.” With hard work, you will be fine, and all other students are in the same boat as you, so look to your peers for help and guidance.

Looking into the future, do you know what major you would like to pursue? General field? Why?

Either chemistry or evolutionary biology. I would love to go into paleontology, but not many schools provide it to undergrads. So, I am looking at courses I could use as a stepping stone to hone in on paleontology in grad school. 

How has your experience with forensics—the unelected elective—been this year? Positive or negative? Maybe a mix of both?

Sounds like a charged question! It has been generally negative, just because it was completely unexpected. None of the teachers are trained forensics teachers; they just teach us off slideshows or based on something they were handed at the beginning of the year. At the same time, you can't entirely blame them, but it has been monotonous, in my opinion, and I guess I don't like the course in general.

Looking back at your time at Masterman, what is one of your favorite moments, and what makes it so great? 

Getting to the States with the boys' varsity volleyball team last year, which was amazing. The Energy around traveling to Hershey for the state game was fun. Overall, it was a nice experience with the team, as I have never made it that far in a sport before.

What would you get and why if you had two minutes to get anything from Masterman before the school disappeared?

I would probably go and find Mr. Roache's bag of basketballs and take one or two because he has some excellent equipment.