By Rachel Dinh

It seems to be a quiet Saturday morning at TPA during winter break: no students, no bells, no Saturday detentions. Then at around 10:30 a.m., parent volunteers begin to arrive, arms full of pancake batter, maple syrup, blueberries, and hot cocoa mix. This is the beginning of the Annual Tempe Prep Reunion and Pancake Brunch. But the real stars aren’t here yet.

Slowly, after the hot cocoa has begun to steam and the white and blue balloons have been placed on every table, guests start to trickle in. Actually, they’re not just guests, but graduated members of the TPA family. Soon the whole piazza has become a mixing ground for students who range from graduates of 2004 to 2017. Already, the hot cocoa machine is half empty and the air smells of pancakes. But what’s most impressive is the excited buzz of conversation that arises once these students get together.

In one conversation, you would hear a student describing his experiences at Princeton. In another meet-up, an ASU graduate introduces her children to her old friends. Here is what some TPA grads have been up to:

Katherine Riffle

 

Katherine currently works as driver of the NAU Student Bus, which she describes as “the most stress-free job in the world.” She’s studying mechanical engineering, but also does a few extracurriculars. “I’m the choreographer director of Star Wars Club, where we fight with light sabers!” she excitedly says. When describing the differences and similarities between TPA and NAU, she says, “The teachers are really chill. When I come down here, I remember how stressful being in the Valley is.  Other people there are really open to study groups. There’s north and south campus, and in south campus, you can literally just sit in the cafeteria and be around people in your same major.”

David Hudson

David is a student-athlete at CalPoly who is majoring in Biomedical Engineering. He recently shattered the school record in the 200 Butterfly. He describes his academic journey: “College is a different change of pace. Keep in mind that in college, there is usually no homework grade or participation grade. It’s just tests and quizzes for most teachers. I love college! It’s a learn-by-doing style, so you get a lot of experience. You’re not just being lectured and the classes are really small like TPA.”

Kaitlyn Zidar

Kaitlyn is currently getting her masters in Elementary Education at ASU, and she might already have a few jobs lined up for her. She says, “I might be teaching coming up in spring. I’m going to be at the Maricopa Unified School District, so I might be teaching science to seventh graders. In college, I actually switched my major five or six times. TPA made me love math, especially after having calculus. The district has a need for science, but I could probably teach it all since I’ve had a well-rounded education.” When asked if she would like to teach at TPA in the future, she said yes. Her education at ASU has readily prepared her for her future career. She describes a few of her signature projects. “For reading class, we made a lesson plan for each five areas of reading. For my other teacher, who teaches Psychology of Education, we wrote a small thesis on a topic we liked, so that was fun. It prepared us for the master’s paper.”

Yegor Zenkov

Sara Matsumoto

Sara majored in Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. She is studying to become a surgeon right now in medical school. She says, “I just really love being in the operating room and doing things with my hands. Surgery is like having an actual, tangible fix instead of just giving patients medicine. I think the best thing to do if you want to go to med school is to do a lot of shadowing so you can see what doctors are doing day-to-day. I really enjoyed my college experience. I made close friends I still keep in contact with. It was some of the most enjoyable four years of my life so far.”

These TPA grads are doing wonderful things so early in their academic careers, and we can’t wait to see where they go next!