By Miranda Lassar
The first thing that comes to mind when someone hears about senior Alex Cohen is that he is brilliant–just plain brilliant.
Cohen’s intelligence helped him gain acceptance into Harvard University, one of the most prestigious schools in the world, and win the Phi Beta Kappa award of 2014, awarded to the senior with the highest GPA.
In addition to his unparalleled intelligence, Cohen is grounded and invests much of his time in helping others achieve in any way possible, teachers and students say.
Cohen is at the top of his class, yet he understands that academics are not everyone’s strong suit and he is always willing to lend a hand to a friend or peer in the classroom, history teacher Kirsten Russell said.
“He [Cohen] is very open, and is very good at identifying what people are good at,” Russell said. “He is good at working with different strengths.”
Senior Jonah Kan, a close friend of Cohen’s, agrees.
“He is really helpful for people who are struggling,” Kan said.
Cohen’s intelligence is equally as impressive as his compassion, which has earned him the respect from his peers and teachers.
“In order to teach Alex you have to convince him, he has to buy into what you have to say,” AP physics teacher Hema Roychowdhury said. “His questions always put you outside your comfort zone, they make you think.”
“He [Cohen] is always really curious and eager to learn more,” Cohen’s friend, senior Jacob Freedman, said. “He wrote his sophomore speech on asking questions and trying to look beyond the knowledge given.”
Cohen’s friends and teacher’s also recognize his humility.
“He is really, really smart, but he is the most humble guy I know,” Kan said.
Cohen always contributed positively to the classroom environment, proving himself time and time again by helping others and keeping the class together.
“In his mind he holds a certain behavior acceptable in the classroom, and if he ever found the class lacking in that it would upset him,” Roychowdhury said. “He was an asset to the classroom.”
Cohen’s achievements have required an immense amount of hard work and effort.
“It [academic life] has been challenging, I’ve always tried to challenge myself, but it has been rewarding too” Cohen said.
Cohen’s teachers praise this work ethic with the utmost approval and recognition.
“As proven by his acceptance into [Harvard] university, he had a very high work ethic,” Russell said. “But he does it because he loves it and thinks it is right.”
Roychowdhury agrees and believes that Cohen is “poster child for work ethic.”
Both Cohen’s peers and teachers agree that he is a wonderful, caring, and intelligent person and will go far in life.
“He has all it takes to succeed but more importantly he has all it takes to be happy while he is successful,” Roychowdhury said.
