Summer — 2009

Alexander Silva

Science/Pre-med

“Great teachers. And the location? The whole campus is beautiful, and everyone seems to be open and encouraging.”

He was in his second semester and quite enthusiastic—and surprised—about what he was discovering at SMC. “I’m just loving this place!” said Alexander Silva. His ‘surprise’ at arriving at SMC is easily explained. “I was accepted at some universities, but my family ran out of money—a long story.” But he hasn’t felt cheated at all by what he’s been able to learn here.

“My anthropology teacher, John Denman, also teaches at UCLA. And he made that class so much fun. I enjoyed him, because he always made you feel like you were part of something very human.” And the study of humanity itself is a real key to what Alexander wants to do in life. “Learning about other cultures has always been incredibly important to me. My family has had a lot of ties to Brazil and—in general—South American cultures have always seemed very enchanting to me. In fact,” he adds, “I think that classes in logic and anthropology should be required in high school. Logic, to help us think rigorously and critically, and anthropology, to help us to understand the human condition worldwide.”

Alexander says, “Night classes here have been the best part of my schedule. They enable me to sort of live two different lives.” But yet another facet of Alexander’s different sorts of lives was about to unfold on May 20th. “That’s when I’m leaving to backpack around Germany. I think it’s gonna be very eye-opening.” For Alexander, it’s always about the culture. And not necessarily in Petri dishes

Back