I have lived in Jamaica Plain all my life, from the day I was born on May 9th, 1996. I live with my parents, Joanne Wolfe and Michael Givertz, and younger brother, Ben. My older brother, Sam, currently attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania; he spends most of the year on campus. I have a dog named Buddy and a cat named Yaz named after the great former Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski; we’re big sports fans, as long as they play for Boston.
My brothers and I all went to pre-school at Temple Israel, then went on to elementary and middle school at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA. In the 6th grade, on a whim, I took the ISEE and “applied” to Boston Latin School. After much deliberation, my parents decided I would go to BLS. Now, in the summer of 2013, I am one month away from my senior year of high school, and couldn’t be more excited about it.
At Latin School I have enjoyed declamation and various history courses, especially APUSH and Facing History. In the eighth grade I became a member of the soccer team and the Yellow Submarine Improve Troupe. Later, I dabbled in Ladies Collective, the novice crew team, Ultimate Frisbee, STAND for Human Rights, and most recently, the Boston Student Union. I have continued with all except for crew and ultimate frisbee. Each in-school activity has helped me meet people who have similar interests and also connect with people I wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to know. Each extracurricular involves my most basic interests: communicating with people, global issues, and social involvement.
Outside of school, I play soccer year round, and practice guitar and violin. This past school year and summer I worked three days a week at an organization in Dorchester called The City School, which emphases youth educating youth about problems in our city. We focused on racism, classism, and sexism. The City School is also about building leadership skills, which we put to use in community organizing campaigns. Working there exposed me to my first taste of the work of public servants, since we spent a lot of time in their offices attempting to persuade them to take more of an interest in our proposals.
The summer before The City School I spent a month at a program called Seeds of Peace. It is an international camp in Maine that brings together teens from countries in conflict with each other, such as the Middle East and South Asia as well as an American delegation. Half the time is spent discussing the area’s conflicts and the other half is regular summer camp. As an American Seed I was part of Middle Eastern dialogue sessions. This experience opened me up to the idea of international relations and political science. It was also an amazing experience in general, that redefined my understanding of perspective and conflict resolution. The skills I gained from constant, intense dialogue helped me at my job with The City School, which I saw as a similar concept on a smaller scale.
As it comes time to look at potential colleges, I have taken into consideration my interested in foreign service and political science. Alongside my passion for geo-politics is a love for traveling. This year I was fortunate enough to travel with some students from my class to Eastern Europe. In the past I have also been to the Middle East multiple times, Tanzania, and Western Europe. My mom was also born in Canada, and my brothers and I are all citizens, so we spend chunks of the winter and summer up there.
In the future I hope to combine my two major interests and become a global public servant or politician. My ultimate goal is to become either Secretary of State or the President. I have a ways to go, but I look forward to the challenge. Currently, all I want to do is graduate high school.