Coming from a school with 2,600 students, Charlee ’23 was "shocked" by Commonwealth's close-knit community when he first arrived. (With about 150 students here total, it's not difficult to "run into the same people almost every period"!) Now, he feels right at home at Commonwealth as a hands-on learner who's curious about everything. That includes nature photography, which dovetails (no pun intended) with both his budding birdwatching interest and his family's artistic legacy. Find out what else fascinates this senior from Revere...

Getting to Know You

What is your favorite book?

All the Light We Cannot See [by Anthony Doerr]. It's a very beautiful book. It's historical fiction, set in World War II, and links all these characters and different stories together. You see the characters experience the war and how they cope with it.

What is your favorite Commonwealth class?

Ah, that's hard; they're all so great! I think the science classes are really cool, but over the years, I've fallen in love with the humanities here. I love English, and right now I'm in an amazing history class about the Bible [Bible-as-History/Bible-as-Bible, with Melissa Glenn Haber '83]. I think Commonwealth has made me both a STEM and humanities person.

What music do you enjoy listening to the most?

I like a lot of classic rock, like Journey and The Beatles, and newer music, like The Weeknd and The Neighbourhood.

What are your favorite comfort foods?

Definitely pizza—it's my favorite food and it's always great to eat. And I like green apples with peanut butter as a quick snack.

What never fails to make you laugh?

Quote of the Week [a long-standing student-produced email roundup of quotes heard around school]. They usually have some funny quotes that I love.

Fall, winter, spring, or summer?

Fall is the best season: the leaves are changing, it's perfect sweater weather, it's not too cold and not too hot. It's just right, like the Goldilocks story of seasons!

 

 

Life as a Commonwealth Student (and Beyond)

What was your first impression of Commonwealth, and how has it mapped to your experience?

The small size definitely hit me. I first went to a high school with 2,600 kids, so Commonwealth was so different, and it took me some time to get used to, like the fact that you can run into the same people almost every period. As time went on, I liked how close you could get to everyone and your friends, and it's nice to bump into people who maybe you don't have class with but who you talk a lot with during lunch.

When do you most feel connected to our community?

Lunch is a great time; you can always talk and be with your friends. Oh, and I almost forgot about Hancock—man! Hancock is definitely one of those times where you feel like, "Wow, I'm part of this small group of students who all love learning and who are close and look out for each other."

You're an avid photographer. When did you first start, and how have you developed your art at Commonwealth?

I started photography at a young age, about eleven. I got access to some cameras, went on YouTube, and watched all the tutorials of photography basics—aperture, shutter speed, ISO—and learned some [Adobe] Lightroom editing. A lot of it was just trial and error and very hands-on. Slowly, I went from automatic into manual mode, and it gave me so much more creative liberty.

I love photography so much because I can capture what I see, like beautiful sunsets or nature around me. That was my thesis project last year: nature photography captured in an urban setting. I live in Revere, which is a city, but in the middle of the city, there's Belle Isle Marsh, one of the last marshes of the Boston area.

The project started during the pandemic, when I wanted to see more birds; I would put my binoculars on, and I started noticing that there are actually a lot of different species that I could see even in my neighborhood, not just sparrows and squirrels. I wanted to pursue that and show how you can find nature, and the beauty of the universe, in your own backyard or in a nearby park, like Belle Isle Marsh. It's really great to capture the emotion that I'm feeling when I see a sunset or an osprey or a hawk.

Where did your birdwatching interest come from?

I took environmental science at my old high school in Revere, which was a very hands-on class. We'd do birding activities and write down what we saw, species richness, all that kind of stuff—and that's where I fell in love with birds. When I was photographing during the pandemic, I was also paying attention to the birds in my neighborhood—there were a lot of cardinals and blue jays.

I wanted to pursue [photography] and show how you can find nature, and the beauty of the universe, in your own backyard or in a nearby park, like Belle Isle Marsh. It's really great to capture the emotion that I'm feeling when I see a sunset or an osprey or a hawk."

You're not the only artist in your family. Tell us about their history with art. Has their work inspired your photography?

A lot is on my dad's side; my grandparents, some of my aunts, and my dad have this incredible style of painting. My grandfather was taught by this famous Salvadoran artist named Fernando Llort. A lot of his art is about folk traditions and the countryside—in Spanish, it's called el campesino—and the farmers and the humble people who work so hard to make a living. It's about capturing Salvadoran culture. There's also a more abstract side to it that my grandfather paints, with different themes like colonialism and Mayan mythology.

My family does a lot of landscape painting, and I capture landscapes in photography. I think that by capturing something expansive, like a landscape, the person who's looking at my art can see a whole scene and see how many different things are there, which is also central to my family's art.

You and Anto '24 recently cofounded the Latino-Hispanic Association affinity group here at school. What are your hopes for this year?

There are so many countries in the world, and we all come from different places. And so we want to show that in Latin America, there are just so many different traditions and so much food—it's all very delicious—and so much music as well. It's all beautiful.

 

 

How has Commonwealth colored your plans for the future?

I think Commonwealth has encouraged me to think about what I want in life. I love learning, and this school has made that love even stronger. So I definitely want to go to college, and I want to always be learning, have my nose in a book, and try many different things.

What's your advice for prospective students considering Commonwealth?

It's okay to fail. You have to recognize that over time, you will get better as a student, and your writing will improve. You just have to be patient. Something that has helped me in the last year is knowing that by doing the work that's in the present, and doing what you have to do every day, you can achieve a lot in the long term.

Anything else you'd like to add?

It's crazy that I'm going to college soon and that I'm going to leave this incredibly amazing community that has helped me grow academically and as a person, as a student, and as a friend. I'm very grateful for what Commonwealth has done and what Commonwealth has given me.

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