Interview with: Elisabeth Bitterman, 2012 senior
Interviewer: Sushii Rhee
February 2, 2012/ 5 PM/ 3rd Floor dorms
SR: What was your path to the Academy?
EB: My friend, Sarah Schmidt, went to the Academy and graduated… three or four years
ago? And she always told me about it and stuff like that. And then my freshman year, I
moved to Ohio, and my dad passed away, so I moved back. Um, and as I was finishing up
freshman year, starting sophomore year, just the way the classes were, the people were, I
really didn’t like them, but my mom continued to push and say, “Do your Academy stuff. Do
your Academy stuff. Get it in.” And so I finally did it and got it in. Um, and then we, over the
summer, we kept calling because we hadn’t heard about whether I’d been accepted or not.
And we found out that I was put on a wait list—or we actually—sorry—we found out first
that one of my teacher recommendations never got turned in and that my guidance office
didn’t send my transcripts to them. And so it was like, okay…? But we got those sent in;
they waived my teacher recommendation that was missing, and so I was then put on a wait
list, and then—let’s see—Juniors moved in on a… Wednesday, right? And I got a call
Wednesday morning saying, “Hey, there’s a spot opening for you.” And we’re like, “Sure.”
And they’re like, “Can you move in tomorrow?” And it’s like, “We can try.” And so I moved
in that Thursday morning, um, really early. And then, uh, was—had to miss Friday and
some of the weekend because of marching band, but I finally got here and got into the
swing of things. That was, that was how I got here.
SR: Awesome. Do you know like why they didn’t send in your teacher recommendation?
Was it just like they forgot, or maybe some sort of animosity?
EB: Um, I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure he just forgot because he actually quit that year and
ended up going into a college setting. It was my chemistry teacher. He didn’t—I don’t think
he liked Yorktown either, but he was the only science teacher I’d really had for an extended
period of time who really knew me, so it’s what I had to take.
SR: Mhm. What doubts did you have about coming to the Academy?
EB: Um, I wasn’t sure if I was able to get along or make friends because I’m not… I don’t
really, I’m not very comfortable with speaking with people my own age. It’s hard for me
sometimes. So it’s easier for me to speak to adults. So living here, I wasn’t sure if I would be
able to acclimate, I guess you could say. And then also, I wasn’t sure how I would feel living
away from home, or like staying a weekend or something like that, and how I’d miss friends
from back home. I also ended up rooming with a senior for junior year, and so that um
(laughs) was kind of a scary thought too. So I wasn’t, I just wasn’t sure I would be able to
acclimate. I have seemed to do okay.
SR: And how was that roommate relationship like being a senior and junior together?
EB: Um, her and I were different people. And so I think for some seniors, if it was a different
senior I would have been okay. Um, I mean I still was okay, but we weren’t “buddy buddy.”
We were, she had her space, and I had mine, and we did our own things basically. Um,
every once in a while we’d talk and say hey, but for the most part, she did her thing and I
did mine, and we were okay.
SR: Alright. How has attending the Academy affected your life at home?
EB: Um, it hasn’t that much. Um, the only thing different is that seeing friends on weekends,
I have to definitely schedule everything so that I had time to do different things with
everybody. But otherwise, it’s not that big of a change.
SR: What aspect of the Academy has proven most influential?
EB: Most influential… Uh, let’s see. Probably the classes, just the way the classes are set up
and being around people who actually have come to learn and want to learn instead of just
having people who have to be in a classroom just to be in the classroom. So it’s kind of nice
to see that and to make—it kind of motivates me to want to do more and do better and
keep up with stuff instead of just doing bare minimum to get that A.
SR: What do you wish you had known before you came to the Academy, if anything?
EB: I wish I had been able to come to like an Orientation, or I wish I had known one other
person before I came just that way. Otherwise, for the most part, I know what I was coming
into when I got here: class-wise, room-wise for the most part.
SR: How does the social life of the Academy compare to that of your old school?
EB: I like to read, and normally I’m a by-myself-person, and so being here, I definitely
interact with people more (laughs). My own age, at least. I don’t just go home, do
homework, I talk with other people—Alex Pardo—and I normally watch Grey’s Anatomy,
um, so it’s more of a—there’s things—like I always go to dinner with somebody. I don’t
normally go by myself with to meals, and so it’s, it makes me be with people more.
SR: Um, the Academy experience is kind of rough sometimes. What made you decide to
come back?
EB: The people and the choice of classes, definitely. Um, I wasn’t very fond of the people at
my home high school. I’m—I could live with them, but they weren’t my favorite. Um, and I
definitely came to really like the people here and how they worked. Also, I love the freedom
in classes we have; we have so many, we have such a variety of classes, and we get to
choose—as long as we meet our standards—we get to choose what classes we pick. And,
um, they’re much more fun, they’re more…
SR: Informative.
EB: Yeah, or intellectually stimulating than normal classes at home where it’s just like, you
go to this class, this class, this class, and everybody does these classes, and it’s all the same
thing over and over it seems like.
SR: Right. And how do you think the Academy will affect your future?
EB: It’s motivated me to do better, and so it’ll probably help me motivate other people to do
better and, um, it’s just something I can be proud of and say, “I have this great education
that works for me.”
SR: Awesome. Thank you.
EB: No problem.