Collin Francis Finds Columbia University a Delight
Collin Francis is taking delight in the hustle and bustle of life on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University. The Huntington High School Class of 2014 member is enrolled in five classes and engaged in plenty of other activities, including research with the head of the astronomy department.
Mr. Francis is an intellectual powerhouse and well-suited for an Ivy League school such as Columbia. “Things are going pretty well so far,” he said last week. “My classes are intense, which is good. I’m never bored with what’s been going on in class. On the flip side, I’ve also never had to read as much in short periods of time as I have since I got here. I’m currently taking Accelerated Physics, Calculus 3, Literature Humanities, Frontiers of Science and Language and Society.”
A deep thinker, Mr. Francis is the type of person who is always seeking to better himself in every way. He is known to seek out new challenges. The teenager has found Columbia to be a fascinating place; one that is already helping him grow.
“I’m on the Quiz Bowl team, which is exhilarating,” Mr. Francis said. “I was on the team in high school and it is great that I’m able to continue this activity. Our team is pretty good and we’re headed to UPenn for our first competition of the year. I’m a member of the Philolexian Society, which is the oldest club on campus and is one of the oldest debate clubs in the country. I’m currently doing research in the astronomy department with the department head. We’re researching quasars, which are very distant, very bright star-like objects.
The Huntington alum is taking full advantage of Columbia’s proximity to one of the world’s greatest cities. “I love the campus, and the fact that we’re in New York City,” Mr. Francis said. “I accompany people on my floor almost every Friday to go on an adventure in the city. I have four years to spend here and I feel the possibilities are endless.”
Mr. Francis was recognized as one of the top African American students in the country last year. He was inducted into Huntington’s chapters of the National Honor Society and the Spanish, English, French, Math and Science honor societies. He’s was the Math Honor Society’s tutoring coordinator and even found the time to work with children in grades 1-6 at the Huntington Public Library’s Huntington Station branch once or twice a week, helping them with homework and explaining confusing concepts.
The Huntington grad has also been a member of the Astronomical Society of Long Island, participating in the organization’s activities at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Centerport and at Custer Observatory in Southold as a volunteer and amateur astronomer. He interned at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s NASA Space Radiation Lab, where he learned what it meant to be a scientist and how important it is to have a fundamental grasp of a subject when engaged in research, he said.