Asher V. (IN A NUTSHELL)

Asher Vogel is currently a rising sophomore at Dartmouth College studying computer science and engineering. In June 2019, Asher graduated cum laude from Harvard-Westlake and was awarded the competitive Brownstein Fellowship to support his gap year travels, which began the following fall in Xi’an, China. Asher had previously been to China four times, including once as the recipient of a U.S. State Department study-abroad scholarship and once as an intern for a Shanghai-based securities firm. In Xi’an, Asher taught English at a private secondary school where he led 18 classes per week, each with 40-50 students for a total of almost 900 students. He was tasked with designing his own curriculum and developed a variety of tricks to engage the large classes, including fan-favorite activities such as learning Taylor Swift lyrics and studying the poetry of Robert Frost. In January of his gap year, Asher traveled to Patagonia, Chile, for a two-month wilderness expedition with a small group of peers through some of the most stunning and remote terrain on earth. The expedition included a month of mountaineering and a month of sea kayaking, during which Asher learned many life lessons about leadership, self-sufficiency, and getting along with others under challenging conditions. Asher loves traditional sports in addition to the outdoors. He played club soccer throughout high school and was a captain of his varsity soccer team at Harvard-Westlake. In addition to soccer, he often spends time weight training, skiing, surfing, and playing tennis and basketball. He looks forward to continuing his studies in computer science and engineering next year.