I recently had the pleasure of interviewing some Prep students who will be graduating college in a few months. College requires much more work than high school, so most students didn’t get back to me. One student, Jack Bowers ’12, had the time to answer a few questions about Prep and the transition to his college experience. Here is the interview.

Kellen Kavanagh: What do you miss about Prep that you don’t get in college?

Jack Bowers: High School sports and workouts with Durand. I can still play intramural sports and go to football games in college, but I really do miss Friday night lights and off season workouts with Coach Durand. Nothing has ever motivated me more than he did, and I never could have reached my below average high school athleticism without him. If you see him in the halls give him a hug for me.

KK: Did Prep prepare you for college?

JB: It actually did a pretty good job. Block schedules helped to adjust to not having every class every day and more weekly homework rather than daily, and UN and National History Day gives you some experience staying up ate to finish big projects with tight deadlines.

KK: Who was your favorite teacher at Prep?

JB: Ms Healy. She taught me in Junior Year Hopkins Collegio and APUSH, and is the best history teacher I’ve ever had. She was available to help me outside of class, and spent her free time editing my college essay and writing recs for me, so thank you Ms. Healy, I appreciate it!

KK: What is the biggest difference from Prep to college?

JB: Time spent working outside of class. At prep you have 8 hours of school every day, and maybe an hour or two of homework. In college you have a couple of hours of class per day, but have to spend way more time learning outside of class. For example, at Prep I thought studying for an hour or two was over-preparing, but now if I spend less than 3-4 hours before any test it must be a really easy class.

KK: What is the biggest thing that you’ve heard has changed at Prep since you’ve left?

JB: The teachers. It’s kind strange asking my little brothers who they have teacher wise and not recognizing a lot of the names, even though I only graduated 4 years ago.

KK: What was the old building like?

JB: The old building was kind of strange and split leveled, but the most important thing that changed was the removal of the dungeon and the harry potter bathroom. On the other side of the boys locker room there was a long hallway where the freshmen lockers were that freshmen always clogged in between classes. Off this hallway there was a bathroom that looked just like the bathroom in the Troll scene of the first Harry Potter, and it made me kind of sad when I visited and couldn’t find it.

KK: Any advice about college?

JB: Learn to manage your free time and strike a balance between studying and fun. College isn’t worth it if you don’t learn anything, but it’s also not worth it if you never have any fun. It is the first time I was truly independent responsible for managing my life without school or parents telling me when I had to be where.