Astrophysics matters:
Out of all the subjects in school, one stood out, grasping Foltz’s interest and causing him to change his perspective on the world around him. During his sophomore year in chemistry class, a NOVA science video on the universe and all its complexities was shown, sparking the flame that would soon burst into a passion for astrophysics.
Foltz is currently enrolled in AP Physics I and II at Libertyville High School, but finds other ways to engage himself outside of school by reading books on astrophysics as well as seeing Neil Degrasse Tyson(famous American astrophysicist) speak when he has time. Whenever he finds something interesting that he can’t wrap his brain around, he goes and discusses it with his physics teacher, Mr. Michael Cook.
“He’s always working outside of class, reading some article; there was one question that he brought in about researchers taking thermodynamics down to the atomic level and doing it with literally atoms,” shared Mr. Cook. “He’s always doing something more than what he needs to be doing just for the class.”
Foltz hopes to major in general physics at Duke since there isn’t a specific astrophysics major offered and then pursue a P.h.D in astrophysics or quantum physics afterwards.
ReLAX bro:
Foltz finds himself between the two dimensions of athletics and academics in that he has been playing lacrosse since fourth grade. He plays the midfield position and first started playing on the Warriors club team. Foltz has played throughout high school starting on the freshman team and then eventually playing on varsity his junior and senior years.
“Honestly, it’s like the only sport I’ve really been good at,” shared Foltz. “I also just like how it combines everything else: you have to have really good coordination, and there is also a physical aspect, so it just kind of has all the other different sports in one.”
Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!:
Foltz will be joining the Blue Devil Class of 2020 at Duke this upcoming fall. To give a sense of what an accomplishment admission into Duke is, according to naviance.com, the average ACT for admittance is a 35 and the average GPA is a 4.54. Only two students were admitted this year from LHS and the acceptance rate was only 10.4% out of all the applicants. He considered other schools, including the University of North Carolina as well as a lot of California schools, but ultimately Duke won him over.
“Honestly, I chose Duke because for some reason in third grade, I just had an overwhelming desire to go Duke for no apparent reason, and I don’t even know where it came from,” shared Foltz. “That kind of died down until like junior year, and I went back and visited, and they honestly just had one of the most beautiful campuses and also had a lot of resources offered, like they have a great physics laboratory and other stuff like that.”
Foltz is extremely excited to be attending Duke and looks forward to being independent and taking advantage of undergraduate programs at the school.
Up in the Air:
Most people over the summer attend concerts or hang out at someone’s lake house; instead Foltz took a different route and decided to head into the mountains for 30 days. Foltz found out about the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) through his dad, who had participated in years prior, and was immediately intrigued. According to www.nols.edu, NOLS “takes students of all ages on remote wilderness expeditions and teaches them technical outdoor skills, leadership, and environmental ethics.”
Foltz has participated in two expeditions through the program, one this past summer and one the previous year. The first one included hiking in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming, and the last one that he participated in was a mountaineering course in Wyoming where the group traveled over glaciers using ice axes in order to summit mountains.
Both expedition groups consisted of around only 12-14 people and two instructors. Also, during the last four days of the course, the instructors leave the group and challenge them to find an “X” on a map by the end of those four days.
“At one point we each got two ice axes and crampons, which are liked spike shoes, and we got to just climb up like a 100 ft ice wall on the side of a glacier” shared Foltz.
Foltz participated in the first expedition solely on his own, but for the second, he brought fellow senior and friend Max Michelotti along.
“I remember that as we were climbing Gannett, the highest peak in Wyoming, and as we were halfway up, this biplane just came in through the valley and just swung in around the mountains, and it was really cool because you don’t really see anybody out there, and that was like the only person we saw in three weeks,” shared Michelotti.
Foltz plans to climb the Denali range in Alaska, which includes Mt. McKinley, during college and summit some other mountain ranges that peak his interest.
Defining the Universe:
Foltz also uses writing as a way to express his thoughts about the universe and our role in it. “Writing for me is just a way to get my ideas out there and have people know what’s going inside my head,” shared Foltz. “I think that you can use a lot of different powerful tools within your writing to make a big impact on people.”
Foltz has participated in Writers Week at LHS for the past two years and read pieces about the effect his Wyoming trip had on him to the impact that we all have on the outside universe. Once Foltz became interested in astrophysics during his sophomore year, writing served as an outlet for him to organize and release his thoughts. If he is reading a book on astrophysics, he uses writing to clarify and understand some of the surreal concepts. He hopes to use writing as a tool in the future as he continues on with his studies.
