20 Questions with Claire Wang

Pixel Journal: What’s the first thing you do every morning?

Claire Wang: I take off my contacts (I wear Ortho-K contacts every night). It seems painful—putting a piece of curved plastic in your eyes—but it actually isn’t that bad!

PJ: What’s an extracurricular project you’re working on right now?

CW: I’m doing a few! I’m currently interning at the Lab of Neuromodulation and Neuroimaging at UCLA! I’m super into neuroscience and am working with others on a project. On my own, I’m working on running a hackathon in the Los Angeles area (check out angelhacks.org!).

PJ: What’s one thing on your bucket list?

CW: Go to space! (If that doesn’t happen, visit Europe, since I’ve never been there before...)

PJ: What did you want to be when you were a kid and why? 

CW: I’ve been through a bunch of phases, and I’ve never really been able to make up my mind. When I was super young, I wanted to be an astronaut or astrophysicist. Later on, I got interested in the climate movement and decided I was going to be an environmentalist. Afterward, I found the wonders of biology and wanted to work in the biotech field. Currently, I’ve narrowed that down to something around computational neuroscience!

PJ: If you could have coffee with any person, living or dead, who would it be and why?

CW: Alan Turing. I’d love to talk to him about his life and experiences, as well as his amazing work in the field of computing!

PJ: If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time? 

CW: 1. Learn Klingon and finish Star Trek TOS.

2. Finish all the homework I have for the rest of the year (since SOHS sometimes releases homework early)—so I wouldn’t have to worry about that!

3. Literally be the definition of a computer geek and clack away on my keyboard late into the night… (writing stuff and creating! I love making things, but never have the time to do so!)

4. I’d finally make billions off of this magical no-sleep-needed medication and become an entrepreneur. :)

PJ: What’s one thing no one knows about you?

CW: I’m almost ambidextrous, mainly because I play the piano. It’s pretty fun being able to play sports using both your right and left hand equally.

PJ: What is one book you think everyone needs to read? 

CW: Symphony of the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson was amazing, and I think everyone needs to read it. It’s about Shostakovich and Russia before and during World War II. But it’s not just some boring book—it’s centered around his music and it’s written beautifully.

PJ: What age do you wish you could permanently be?

CW: I wish I could always be 13. According to some studies, when you’re 13, you’re at the peak of mental ability and plasticity. Obviously, being 16+ would be nice too—I’d be able to drive!

PJ: What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation? 

CW: I have actually done this! I can give a presentation on Mask R-CNNs (convolutional neural networks) as well as teach a primer on neuroscience! I quite like improvising, so this would be fun if it actually happens, provided I don’t freak out first.

PJ: What’s the best thing that happened to you last week? 

CW: Hmm… lots of things happened last week. I got elected President at my B&M school and I was invited to an interview with the Wall Street Journal about “hacking” and Hackclub (I’ve started one at SOHS!). That was pretty cool! 😎

PJ: If you could invent a flavor of ice cream, what would it be? 

CW: It’d be Milky Way- every single ice cream flavor combined together (different textures, ingredients, etc). It’d be out of this world! 🚀

PJ: What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to yet? 

CW: A few years ago (!) I got a hovercam drone as a birthday present but haven’t gotten around to testing it out! Someday...

PJ: Who’s your favorite OHS teacher? 

CW: I can’t really answer this mainly because I’ve only been here for 5 weeks :)

PJ: What’s your favorite OHS class? 

CW: I like Modes of Writing and Argumentation, as well as the AP Physics C class I’m taking! My homeroom is quite fun too—we’ve been watching Star Trek the past two weeks. (If you haven’t noticed, I’m a massive Trekkie.)

PJ: What’s your favorite emoji? 

CW: Emojis are overrated in my opinion, so I don’t have a favorite one. But I do kinda like the upside-down smiley face emoji ( 🙃).

PJ: What is one accomplishment that would make your life complete? 

CW: Honestly, I don’t know of anything that would make my life complete.

PJ: If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? 

CW: Subconsciously categorizing people you’ve never really talked to. 

PJ: What do you want to do after high school? 

CW: For right now, college is next. But, I guess I could drop out of college and do something innovative and special and whatnot…  

PJ: Finally, what’s one piece of advice for your fellow OHSers? 

CW: Immediately set up a good workflow to manage homework and notes! I’ve gotten overflowed with work before and consequently forgotten to do a few things, which wasn’t very good.