Q&A: Boston Latin School's Valedictorian Olive Tang

When Olive Tang and her parents, Jie Tang and Xiaodan Wang, moved to West Roxbury from Georgia, they set the Boston Latin School in their sites. There, Tang has established a strong presence inside and outside of the classroom en route to becoming the class of 2011's valedictorian. She spoke with West Roxbury Patch about her experience at BLS, her upcoming time at Harvard, and her experiences as a student from West Roxbury. 

BLS is certainly considered a high-end education. What kind of effort goes into becoming its Valedictorian?

Tang: At BLS, becoming valedictorian is a somewhat a combination of effort and luck. Everyone in the school is incredibly talented and everyone puts in immense effort. At BLS, there’s usually a lot of homework, and, in my opinion, too many tests. Often it’s a lot of late nights, with a few all-nighters thrown into the mix.

Too many tests?

Tang: I guess there's just a lot of time spent studying for one test or
another. Some classes have little quizzes every day. I've had a few
days where I had three to four tests in a single day, just one after
another.

You're headed to Harvard come the fall. You must be proud of that. What does it mean to you to have that kind of opportunity before you?

Tang: It’s absolutely incredible. I don’t think the full weight of the idea has really hit me yet. I really have tons of people I have to thank for this amazing opportunity. Ultimately, it’s a chance to improve myself and then to be able to use my experiences from both BLS and Harvard to make a difference in the community.

How about long-term? Any idea what you want to do for a career? How will you go about getting there?

Tang: I’m not too certain yet. I’m exploring the sciences a bit, to try to figure out where I’m heading. As of now, I’m thinking about med school.

Tell us about your education prior to BLS, and about growing up and your time in West Roxbury.

Tang: I actually moved to West Roxbury a year before starting BLS. I find Westie a nice and quiet place. The people are really nice and I’m very glad to live here.

What eventually brought you to the Boston Latin School? What makes BLS stand out from other Boston Public Schools?

Tang: BLS really had the reputation for a rigorous and academic curriculum and I think that made me interested in the school. However, on that note, BLS is special not just because of its academics, but because of the community in the school. There’s a lot of support for us as students, sometimes from teachers or guidance counselors, and often from fellow students.

Obviously you excelled academically. What else were you passionate about during high school? Any sports or clubs, or hobbies outside the school walls?

Tang: I was the captain of the science, math, and mock trial teams at BLS. They took up the majority of my time afterschool, but I also really enjoyed playing the violin in the school orchestra.

During the course of your time in high school, a lot has changed in the education landscape. It went from unheard of to very common to see a laptop on every student's desk for instance. What are some of the biggest changes you've noticed in education from your freshman to senior year?

Tang: Technology is certainly one area that has completely changed. iPods, phones, in addition to computers went from uncommon to being everywhere. It’s at a point where some of my friends don’t even carry notebooks around since they just take notes on the computer. At BLS there’s been a lot of other changes as well. There’s the limit on the number of AP classes a junior or senior can take, the removal of the honors classes, and stuff like that.

You don't have to give anything away, but what are some of the themes you intend to address in your valedictory speech? How do those themes relate to you and your classmates?

Tang: The central theme is friendship, because that’s one thing we’ll all be graduating with. It’s something that’s helped most of us through the past four or six years at BLS. As the class of 2011, we’ve become fairly close to one another, so another theme is exploring the parting of ways and some reflection on the past and projection into the future.

After four years of hard work with plenty more hard work sure to come, how do you plan to relax this summer. 

Tang: I’ll be spending some more time with my family, visiting grandparents, and so on. I’m really looking forward to that.