In our little TAS-Taipei bubble, it might feel as if all the authors and scientists and historians we study are so far away. But there’s one historian that’s much closer than you think. You might be sitting next to him right now.
TAS senior Christopher Y. (12) recently wrote a paper that was accepted for publication by the Concord Review, which prides itself on being the only academic journal in the world to publish papers by high school students. To put this into perspective: the Dean of Admissions at Harvard University once told a college counselor that he considers publication in the Concord Review equivalent to winning a national mathematics competition.
Christopher’s paper was an extended version of his AP US History research paper, which examined how the ideas of Confucius and Buddha influenced Henry David Thoreau, and the role of Asian philosophy in transcendentalism.
“My research began when my history teacher showed us an article by Professor Todd Lewis and Dr. Kent Bicknell, titled The Asian Soul of Transcendentalism,” Christopher told the Blue and Gold.
Christopher and longtime APUSH teacher Mr. Arnold worked together to refine his paper and offer it for publication. Some of the labor involved had Christopher tracking down hard-to-find books and even contacting Dr. Bicknell, who wrote the paper that originally inspired Christopher’s paper, for help in digging up more resources. Part of their  correspondence can be viewed below.
When asked how he felt about his paper being accepted for publication, Christopher responded: “Pechorin declared happiness is satisfied pride. But mostly I’m happy I could make Mr. Arnold happy.”