Shakespeare once wrote of a pair of star-crossed lovers. Today, we lack that romantic spirit, but instead have a pair of star-crossed studiers in the form of Alex Krauss and Joe Menetrez, two seniors at Claremont High School. Together, they will be part of the Bowdoin class of 2028, spending the next four years entangled in their respective matriculations. 

Their story begins fifteen years ago when they first encountered each other in preschool. 

“I remember sitting close to Joe and hearing that we were both going to Chaparral,” Krauss said.

“We met in 2009, if I remember incorrectly,” Menetrez said.

However, Menetrez left Chaparral soon after, and the two set off on their own academic journeys; Krauss and Menetrez attending Chaparral and Foothill Country Day, respectively. Reunited at Claremont High School, they grew closer once again, recalling those bright days of their youth. 

Throughout their high school years, they shared many classes and many memories. They studied into the dark hours of the morning, grew closer as members of the volleyball team, and solidified their relationship with long sessions of the board game Dungeons and Dragons. Both avid members of the Claremont High School Rock Climbing Club, they slowly clambered their way into each other’s hearts. 

United by their past, they now set off to their Bowdoin futures. 

Although incredibly close, both Krauss and Menetrez will be exploring different pathways. Krauss plans to major in Educational Psychology in hopes of one day becoming a teacher, although he is still open to new interests.

“I’m going to a liberal arts college to try out new and different things; it would be fun to follow in the footsteps of my parents, but I’d also like to define my own path,” Krauss said.

Krauss would also like to bring his love of pickleball to Bowdoin, where he hopes to start an official “Bowdoin Pickleball Club.” After all, the “Supreme Leader” of Claremont High School pickleball must expand his influence.

Menetrez, meanwhile, is more drawn to the study of nature, hoping to one day become an environmental scientist. Unfortunately, at Bowdoin, it isn’t quite so simple.

“The Environmental Science major is a coordinate major, so I have to pick another major to, y’know, coordinate with that,” Menetrez said. “I’m thinking of Earth and Oceanographic Sciences for that, right now.” 

Bowdoin’s location is ideal for a nature-lover like Menetrez, sitting in the beautiful Maine wilderness, and just a short drive from the coast. 

“I feel a sort of connection to Henry David Thoreau, in this sense, because the Maine wilderness and nature is, as it were, cool,” Menetrez said.

The spiritual connection is not the only benefit of Bowdoin’s setting, as Menetrez plans to participate in Bowdoin’s Coastal Studies semester, in which he will get hands-on research experience with Maine’s vibrant sea ecosystem. 

Both Menetrez and Krauss will be flying out this August to meet their futures head-on, decked out in their polar bear pride. Though the two will inevitably be somewhat separated by their diverging paths of study, it is assured that their friendship will continue. Indeed, listening to their companionable banter, there is no doubt that by the end of their college lives, they’ll be Bow- doin’ just fine. 

“Shoutout to my mother Amy Kind, my father Frank Menetrez, my brother, and my best friend, Luke Mason.” Said Menetrez, in closing. 

“Shoutout to my family, Olivia Delgado, Carson Paul, and Shalom Asemota.” Bellowed Alex Krauss.