The wind blows coldly as he runs out onto the field. James Frank is playing defense in this soccer game, in his usual position of sweeper. He blows on his hands in an attempt to warm up as the ball is tossed back into play. Playing sweeper is a large responsibility for anyone, espescially sowhen that someone has such a full schedule.
What do soccer, badminton, band, Outers, and Mathletes have in common? James Frank. He currently participates in all of these clubs, as well as many more. He admits that he will have to scale back in university. "I'm hoping to go to Waterloo for Physics and Math--- double majoring." James said. Instead of rushing straight into university however, James will take it slowly and stay for a fifth year.
He will be staying for two main reasons. The first: money. "I'm only coming back for half a year so I'll be working the other half," he said. His second reason is a 4 credit co-op in his field of choice: science. While he doesn't know who he is going to co-op with, but he will hopefully go somewhere that he can put his physics minded brain to work.
James has always been interested in physics, and is basing his future career around it. "Ideally I'd like to work at CERN with the large hadron collider." James says, "but that's not very likely with so many projects lined up for it." His second choice is something in the field of cosmology, combining the big and small of quantum mechanics and astrophysics.
Even staying on earth James thinks big (and small). He leans back to sort through all of the interesting ideas running through his mind. "Well, I have this one where you fill up a swamp with bacteria programmed to eat garbage," he said. This would replace landfills and rapidly turn trash into treasure.
His brother, Issac Frank, says it's nice having an intelligent brother. "I'm not that great at English so it's good that he can help" Issac said. His fondest memory of James is just sitting around and talking on the trip to Washington.
"My main role models are my parents... They just don't stop working." James says that he doesn't really look up to famous people because he can't really know them. "Something I try to live by is 'Understand before you live'"
Going to Shad Valley, a one month enrichment program, enforced this. "We had to group together and design a product, then get people to invest in it," James said, "it really forces you to understand other people and work with them. Those are some of the most important skills in life."
He has always liked the outdoors and kept a vegetable garden when he was younger. But highschool caught up with him and his mountain of extracurricular activities. "We're moving now, so hopefully there will be space for a garden there," He said. But this is not the only activity he enjoys outside. "Hiking or walking. I also keep a rock collection," James said. He just likes being outside. What do you expect from someone who grew up on a farm?
"I never really need to help with the chores. We didn't have any animals so there wasn't much need," he said. What he did do when he was younger was help his grandfather with refinishing furniture. "I sanded or scraped," James said, "it was peaceful and quiet time with him."
James is looking forward to university and all the challenges it brings. "The hardest thing about [physics] is that you need to be taught everything," James said, "it's like another language." But don't let him fool you, he's equally at home at solving math puzzles as sending Soccer balls flying.