Drake Du is able to participate in and run different clubs, play a sport, get good grades and even more. As a senior, he also has the pressure of applying to colleges. Although this can seem very stressful and a lot to do, he goes out of his way to do even more. 

Du, a senior at Revere High School, participates in a number of different activities at his school. He is in clubs such as Academic Challenge, Junior Statesmen of America, National Honors Society, Science Olympiad and Biology Olympiad. He is also the president of Students Demand Action and Mu Alpha Theta and runs for the men’s cross country team. 

Although it can seem like a lot, Du finds time for it all. He says that sometimes means he loses a little bit of sleep, but he is really passionate about all his activities, so he enjoys it. He also talked about how he has dropped some things in the past because he was not very passionate about them. Everything that he is participating in, he has a good reason for doing them. 

“Everything that I do. . . I’m passionate about in some way,” said Du. 

He says what he is doing makes him really happy, and that is why he does it. 

Jeff Fry, Du’s AP US History teacher and the adviser for Academic Challenge, Students Demand Action and Junior Statesmen of American, also said he believes Du is doing all of this because he really cares and is passionate about all of it. 

“He really leads these organizations well and puts in the time and the effort to make it happen,” Fry said. 

Fry said that he can tell Du is leading these clubs because he really wants to. He is organized, always prepared and he works well with the other leaders of the clubs. He thinks Du has really stepped up in leading these clubs and that he has been a great leader ever since he was a freshman. 

“Even when he was a freshman in the Students Demand Action and Junior Statesmen, the other students were asking him to do things. He was stepping up and being a leader very early on,” Fry said.

Fry also mentioned that Du made efforts to reach out to him this summer and last. He wanted to make sure that these clubs would not go away if RHS were to go virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions. He wanted to make sure that the student body could still participate at home. 

“He and I were meeting over the phone and what not just to try and make sure these clubs could be virtual too, that they wouldn’t die. We wanted to make sure that Revere kids had something to do if that happened,” Fry said. 

Along with being dedicated to his school work and after school activities, he is also very dedicated to running cross country. His coach, Mark Purdy, said that he works hard, does not complain about the workouts and that he is a great team member. 

“If he’s unable to make a practice for some reason, he’ll almost always ask me, ‘What’s the workout coach? I’ll try to do it later on my own,’” Purdy said.

Du also talked about how in his free time he enjoys reading about news and hanging out with his friends. 

“Don’t get me wrong, sometimes news can be depressing, but sometimes it’s enjoyable,” Du said.

He also mentioned that although he is not able to do it all year round due to the weather, he has a  fun time biking. 

Du has sent in his early applications to two different colleges, the University of Michigan and Harvard. He is also planning on applying to fourteen other colleges. He says that although sometimes writing the essays can be hard and a lot of work, sometimes he really enjoys writing them. 

“Some days you get really inspired, and I kind of want to share my story,” Du said.

In addition to his after school activities and college applications, Du is a semi-finalist for the National Merit Scholarship, which is based on a student’s PSAT score. 

Du is happy to do all of these activities and is great at leading them. He is working hard on writing the rest of his college essays and still finds time to have fun with his friends. He makes time to do all the things that he enjoys.