WEST IS BEST! WEST IS BEST!”
I remember this chant from our school’s annual picnic, where every campus goes to Tropical Park for a day of fun activities and competitions. My campus, West Campus, had just won an obstacle course set up by Homestead Campus, and naturally, our pride-filled chests started screaming, maybe a little obnoxiously, in support of our campus.
This is just one of the many examples of school pride I’ve witnessed in my last two years at the School for Advanced Studies. I first heard about SAS in 9th grade, and to be honest, I was scared. All I had heard was that I wouldn’t have the “high school experience” and that I’d be forced to take AP Macroeconomics, which, to be clear, I did not want to do. The school seemed too rigorous, too intense, too “nerdy.” I was scared of the unknown.
And I know I wasn’t the only one. What about my GPA? What if I can’t do it? How will I have fun? But now, as I near the end of my senior year, I can confidently say: going to SAS West was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself. Yes, we don’t have football games or traditional high school sports teams, but we have something more rare and powerful: a close-knit, supportive, and driven community.
Because SAS is such a small school, you’ll know all of your teachers, and they’ll all know you. I could casually chat with Mr. Orichio and Mr. Leon about little things in life and sit in Ms. Rodriguez’s office contemplating whether to choose Northwestern or Princeton. On top of that, the flexibility offered is something you can’t find anywhere else. I had the freedom to choose the college classes I wanted and the benefit of being guided by my amazing counselor, Ms. Rodriguez. Where else can you text your counselor at 6 PM on a Sunday and get an immediate response? Most importantly for me, though, I created unparalleled bonds with my peers. I’m not going to lie—SAS is hard. But the good news is, you won’t go through it alone. Everyone there is going to be struggling with Calculus just as much as you will. Everyone there is going to be questioning their major after one of Dr. Gibert’s physics tests. Everyone there is going to go through the same struggles as you, and that will bring you even closer together.
So if you’re thinking about going to SAS, do it. The next two years will be filled with laughter, teamwork, and collective stress over Calculus, but in the end, it will be worth it. I wouldn’t be where I am or who I am without the experiences SAS gave me. I wouldn’t be so good at time management if I hadn’t had to manage seven classes on a Wednesday alongside a job. I wouldn’t study the way I do if SAS’s course rigor didn’t enable me to. I wouldn’t have grown and matured the way I have if it weren’t for the amazing people I met at SAS. Make the right choice and choose SAS—and as always, West is best.
Daniella Martinez
School for Advanced Studies West Campus, Class of 2025
Princeton University, Class of 2029
