GALA SENIOR PROFI LES


“I really appreciate my parents for reading to


me when I was young.” — Kara Jackson


Books for the Summer Reading List are selected by juniors and by Upper School


faculty. The suggested length of the books


is about 300 pages, but they range from


150 pages to over a thousand pages.


KARA JACKSON The Reader


K


“Golf is a sport you can play by yourself or with others. I really


enjoy playing it without pressure more than playing competitively,


but I enjoy the friends I have made on the OES golf team.”


—Johnson Chen


Johnson Chen plans to study statistics or finance at the


University of California at San Diego.


ara Jackson’s feat is the stuff of legend. It’s akin to Babe Ruth calling


his home run shot in the 1932 World Series. In Kara’s case, it was the spring of 2007 and Upper School librarian Chris Myers had just announced the titles of the 44 books on the summer reading list. Each student is supposed to read one of the books over the summer and be prepared to discuss it at the beginning of school. Kara, a tall, blond freshman, told Chris she was going to read them all. “Do so,” he replied, “and I’ll put up a plaque for you.” “In August she was emailing


me to help her find copies of the last few books,” Chris said. The plaque reads, “Summer


Reader Extraordinaire,” and in the aftermath of her accomplishment, two other students have had their names added to the plaque, inspired by Kara’s example. The unofficial title of the feat is “pulling a Kara Jackson.”


18 OES MAGAZINE SUMMER 2010 18 “I didn’t coin the term,” Kara


says, “but I did read all the books on the list. I didn’t sleep too much that summer. I read three or four books in a day if they were easy reads.” Kara’s love of stories began


in the nursery as her parents read Goodnight Moon and other books to her. At age 5, she had her own subscription to Spider magazine, and in fourth grade a standardized test measured her reading at the 12th grade level. When people noticed how fast she sped through books, she made an effort to read even faster. Now she can gobble up assigned reading at a lightning pace, but when reading for enjoyment she slows down and savors the words, memorizing certain phrases that please her. Her favorites, such as American Pastoral by Philip Roth, she may reread two or three times. Although she slacked off


in the summer of 2008, last summer she “pulled a Kara Jackson” again, and she was considering doing it


once more this summer before she heads off to the University of Washington to study neurobiology. She acknowledges that in some social milieus she might be denigrated for her love of reading, but not so at OES. “Everyone has been totally


supportive,” she said. “Nobody said I was a dweeb.” On the contrary, Chris


says that having such an accomplished reader in their midst has generated a lot of enthusiasm for summer reading among Upper School students.


JOHNSON CHEN The Seeker


in his native China had never heard of the game. He took up the sport on one of three


W


hen Johnson Chen took up golf in 2002, many people


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40