As the 2025-2026 academic year has kicked off in full throttle, there are, as always, many new students. Alongside that, seniors are beginning their final year at Concord Academy. With the freshmen joining our school and seniors becoming the most experienced at CA, it would be informative and interesting to explore their different points of view at the start of the year.
When Roldolfo Wang ’26, a senior boarder, reflected on his feelings about the upcoming year, the first thing he mentioned was his worry and anticipation. He explained that, although he is excited about the various options for academic courses, he is still stressed about the long, tedious college application process. Wang also reflected on the differences between his senior year classes and those he took in prior years. He says, “[Classes] are pretty similar to the year before, just because the upperclassmen and twelfth graders take electives, but as a senior, you get to do a senior project.” Additionally, Wang talks about his senior project. He plans to develop a flight computer with active safety features such as collision avoidance and stall recovery. To support this project, he will utilize the independent project he created with a student from the class of ’25, consisting of airframe and main flight computer logic.
He also noted the many meetings he has to set up and attend this year, including portfolio setup sessions. A portfolio set-up session is a period of time where students put together a systematic collection of student work that represents student achievements over a specific period of time or across different curricula. Although Wang has not been able to attend a portfolio setup session yet, he introduced his experience with his photography portfolio. He says, “...from my experience putting together my photography portfolio, values you want to highlight are compositional creativity/ability and technical knowledge.”
Despite the extra workload for college that Wang is facing, he is actually not nervous for senior year, but rather excited. Wang looks forward to the upcoming academic year and making more friends as time moves forward. Looking back on his time at CA, Wang shares, “[I wish I had] gone out of my comfort zone earlier.” He offers valuable advice for the lower-classmen and upcoming seniors in the 2026-2027 school year: “The most important thing is to talk to your advisor and advocate for yourself.”
Barton Zhang ’29, a freshman day student, had a different start to his year. When reflecting on his first few weeks, Zhang shared his appreciation and astonishment for the excellent teachers at CA, as well as the quality of classes. He addressed his teacher, Kim Frederick’s pleasant personality, speaking as to how nice she has been. He plans to work hard to handle the increased workload in high school, though he shared, “I don’t think the classes here are that hard, but the workload is more than my middle school workload. I think it’s reasonable.” Aside from academics, Zhang is met with a very diverse community, and is already successful in making many connections at CA. One example Zhang gave about his bonding with others is when he spent time with his friend Teddy. He covers their friendship, “I met [a friend] from last week, his name was Teddy. We often play Clash Royale together.” He clearly enjoys spending time with friends at school, expressing the enjoyment of being a “day boarder” (a name he calls himself as he stays at CA until late at night before heading home).
All in all, the senior versus the freshman’s point of view on the start of the school year is slightly different. While the senior appeared seasoned and prepared for a new year, the freshman was still exploring the school and familiarizing himself with the community as the school year moved on. Through the two perspectives, the senior and the freshman both show their love for CA.