Elaine Kong

If it is Thursday, it is Purrsday—and there is one person to look out for along the halls of CHS, standing tall in his usual ensemble of shorts and a T-shirt. For it is a known fact that this day of the week, his shirt is none other than the iconic cat shirt, worn by only one senior on campus: Ian Moore.
“I have a weekly schedule,” Moore said. “I feel like people are going to remember the cat shirt, whether I want them to or not.”
Yet he has much “mo-ore” than that to be remembered for. From scoring a perfect 1600 on his SAT to his dislike of the sun to his choice to attend college at Amherst College over Harvard University, it is indubitable that he will leave behind a legacy to be remembered. Other accolades include being a National Merit Scholar and Prom King—titles not easily come by.
When he is not being peer pressured into attending school dances, Moore enjoys spending time reading nonfiction (more reliable than fiction, although Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is his all-time favorite), playing board games (Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Spirit Island ranking high on his list), running on the cross-country and track teams (of which he has been a part of for four years), and speaking German, even to those who do not know the language.
“Here’s the thing,” Moore said. “There’s at least one day a week that I think in German. It’s really weird, and it’s pseudo-random. The really annoying times are the days I’m thinking in a combination of English and German. I’ll be halfway through a sentence and then realize, oh shoot, I thought about this word in the other language.”
Moore also recently became the first person at CHS to be accredited with the German C2 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the highest proficiency level, which nominally corresponds to a native speaker’s grasp of the language. For all his involvement with German, Moore noted that he is thinking of continuing his experiences abroad.
“I think I’m definitely going to do a semester or year abroad in some German-speaking country during college,” Moore said. “In terms of possible majors, I’m thinking math, German, or physics. I’m probably going to double major, among other things.”
Amherst is well-known for having a large percentage of students who have multiple majors, so Moore will not be out of place. Having thoroughly enjoyed being in the German program at CHS (having been an officer of German Club for three years, participating in the German exchange, and receiving the Jugendkurs scholarship), AP Physics classes with Mr. Carrillo (in which he has never missed a point in any of the quizzes or exams), and taken math at the Claremont Colleges for two years, it is clear to see why Moore is examining these majors in particular. As for turning down Harvard in favor of one of the top small liberal arts colleges in the nation, Moore offered an explanation.
“I’ve always known that I didn’t want to go to a really huge school,” Moore said. “But between when I applied to places and when I heard back, I became more confident that I wanted to go to a small school, because I like feeling like I can get to know everybody in my grade.”
As for picking Amherst out of the eight other small liberal arts colleges he had gotten into, Moore described how he had narrowed it down to Amherst and Swarthmore.
“When I visited both, I found that I personally liked Amherst better,” Moore said. “The fact that my sister and brother both went to Swarthmore was both a positive and a negative, since I knew more about it, but I also want to do my own thing.”
Indeed, going to Amherst means that Moore will continue to learn, grow, and remain an Agent of Chaos in a place with “far better weather than Claremont.” The Wolfpacket wishes him well on his journey.
Moore would like to shoutout his friends, family, cross-country team, Mr. Carrillo, and Frau Tsai for being a part of his high school journey.