HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter of recommendation Page 2My Physics classes are mathematically intensive because of both personal predilection
and professional mandate. For most students, my class is their first experience with us-
ing math as an analytical tool rather than as an end in itself. Erin is a superb mathema-
tician with a solid, economical, rather than flamboyant, style of creating solutions. He
has always had an extraordinary way of seeing the essence of a problem and has rarely
been "fooled" by the story line written around a problem. More times than not, he helps
his tablemates understand our topics under discussion. He has superb recall and can
easily synthesize disparate ideas. Mr. Phillips has a first-rate mind and has a superb
sense of how the world works. The fact that his father is a pilot and that he himself has
spent long hours being airborne seemed to have helped his sense of understanding.
He probably understands rotational motion (both kinematics and dynamics) as well as
any AP student ever has.
As Richard Feynman said, Nature is the final judge of physical theory. Laboratory work
is, therefore, an essential component of my classes. The Physics I labs tend to be con-
firmation labs, while the AP labs are more open-ended. AP students are given a phe-
nomenon to study and are responsible for designing and executing experimental work to
illuminate the phenomenon being studied. Erin is a born theorist, but he also has an
uncommon aptitude for experimental work as well. He. has done superb lab work and
his reports are models of brevity, precision, and humor. He is always willing to begin
again when the plan for a lab does not effectively capture the necessary relationships.
Mr. Phillips has a full complement of social skills. He is invariably polite and very up-
beat. He is supportive of his fellow students and his teachers. He is extremely teach-
able, to the extent that one has to teach him at all. Although his friends are the more
serious students here at East, he mixes easily in our high school, the most ethnically
diverse in the Anchorage School District.
There are few upper level math or science. classes that Mr. Phillips has not taken. He is
academically fearless, and his performance has justified his confidence. He has earned
a stunning 4.5 GPA so far, and he still has a year to go. He has been inducted in to
East's National Honor Society, and has been on an honor roll every semester since
middle school_ Impressive.
As is true for most of my students,. Erin participates in an impressive number of activities
and organizations. He participates in our math honorary (Mu Alpha Theta). He is cur-
rently earning his private pilot's License. He is very active in his church, being a leader
in several of its youth activities.
And, of course, Erin is an athlete. As a runner, Erin won the 2007 Alaska Mountain
Runners' Grand Prix for ages 1-17. In 2007, he came in an astounding 12th overall in
the Mountain Marathon race (an annual .July 4 race held in Seward, Alaska, in which
runners ascent and descend a local mountain). Simple completion is the usual criterion
for most Mountain Marathon runners, to say nothing of placing in the top fifteen. As