Signora Hoerle & her interview with BHS Senior Paul Conti

Paolo Conti is a Senior at BHS. He has taken Italian for four years and, together with Senior Elena Latsis, he is the Italian Club’s Co-President.

Ciao Paolo, can you tell me about your plans for next year?

Next year I will be a Freshman at Bowdoin, double majoring in Neuroscience and Italian. I am excited to join the “Circolo Italiano” (Italian Club) at Bowdoin and to participate in their study abroad program in a few years.

Are there any classes that you are especially excited about?

Classes on Dante and Italian Literature. When I attended an Italian class during my visit at Bowdoin it reminded me of my Italian classes here because it had grammar, vocabulary and conversation and the students were very social and were having fun in class. 

What motivates you to continue studying Italian in College and choose such a unique double Major combination?

So, I am motivated to study Italian because of my good experiences with Italian at the high school and my appreciation for the culture. Studying Italian allows me to form uniquely intimate connections with both my classmates and teachers, which is something that I really love. I want to become perfectly fluent in Italian and I feel that studying sciences and having a humanistic education through Italian gives me a complete understanding of human nature. 

You lived through a very unique time in our history and being an adolescent during the pandemic must not have been easy. And yet, you have kept up your commitment Track and school with success. What advice can you give to underclassmen? 

I think that when you find things that you truly enjoy doing even outside what’s required–like Italian because I don’t have to be taking it–or sports, it’s not work anymore… It’s more of an enjoyable experience and it’s easy to keep up with it. It becomes easy after that…Ultimately, my advice is to explore multiple things and not to get too caught up in being the best at one thing yet because I did lots of things, for example, music, running, etc. and then I zeroed in on what makes me tick. In conclusione, mi piace l’italiano!