Ethan Pfister is a junior at Littleton who is passionate about music, film, and nuclear energy. In school, he loves math and science, and participates in several clubs, including marching band and jazz band. Outside of school, he loves to play jazz piano, drums, and occasionally writes music. He’s been playing the piano for 9 years and often practices in his free time. Over the summer, he took part in the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts, or CCJA, which is dedicated to helping young musicians express themselves through jazz.
This year, Pfister is juggling a lot between IB classes, clubs, and preparing for college applications, saying “I’m trying to cram everything in, and that can definitely be insane.”
The pandemic has inhibited some of Pfister’s plans, as it has for most people, but he has found a way to work around Covid-19 and continue pursuing his interests. He has spent time attending virtual lectures at MIT, practicing his music, and even creating a short film that was aired on Conan.
Covid-19 has also made it difficult for marching band and jazz band to meet, which has been hard on its members. The marching band state finals were cancelled, which was a huge disappointment for the musicians.
“I was ready to have a fun show with the people who taught me how to play drums, but they didn’t get to do that, which really stunk,”
Ethan Pfister
In the future, Pfister hopes to attend MIT and learn more about nuclear energy. His interest in nuclear energy began last year, when the students of Ms. Thieme’s language arts class were assigned the project of writing an opinion piece.
Pfister chose to write an op-ed advocating for the use of nuclear energy. Thieme had told her students that if they wanted to, they could submit their piece to a newspaper. He decided to take this opportunity, and ended up getting his work, titled “Advocating for the Advocacy of Nuclear Power”, published in the New York Times. After writing this article, Pfister recognized his newfound passion for the science, and went on to write a second article that was also published.
When he participated in a program called code.org over the summer, Pfister was able to meet with one of his greatest role models, Bill Gates, over Zoom. He has looked up to Gates for a long time, and he played an important role in Pfister’s passion for science. “That’s where I asked him about nuclear energy and his take on it,” says Pfister.
“I’d love to be a high-praised nuclear engineer, or a film director,”
Ethan Pfister
Pfister is also passionate about film, and would enjoy pursuing a career in it if he doesn’t go into a science-math related field. His favorite director is Christopher Nolan, and his favorite movies are Good Will Hunting, The Theory of Everything, and The Dark Knight.
It is clear that Pfister is a passionate scholar who takes every chance he gets to learn and grow. “Going to the college that I want to and learning what I want to at the college is definitely my main goal right now,” he said.
