Behind a Genius’ Life: Working at Boeing, Playing Volleyball, and more!

Celine Shih (’25) April 18, 2023

Noah Lin (’16) is an alumnus of AST, a graduate of University of Washington, and an employee of Boeing. Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and the leading manufacturer of planes and commercial jetliners. At Boeing, his primary responsibility is to ensure the system is running smoothly so the company can complete its respective work. Aside from his job, Noah loves Ramen, or Japanese foods in general.

Back when Noah was a sophomore in high school, just like I am now, he was a genius that didn’t need to spend a lot of time studying to achieve good grades. He had a fun 10th grade and spent a lot of time with his friends. However, Noah would like to point out that high school can seem like it’s all about getting good grades, making a bunch of friends, etc, but as we move on in life, we’ll realize retrospectively there are other focuses in life.

Noah then gave us some advice on AP courses. He thinks it’s good to take as many APs as you can because it helps us get into schools, taking more APs allows you to not take several classes, so you pay less for the courses in college. However, we should always choose the courses we are interested in to stay motivated to study throughout the year. Furthermore, taking AP courses in high school allow you flexibility later on in college, whether it is to take fewer courses or save some money from tuition. It also allows you to spend that time taking other courses and learning new things.

Noah’s college life was very volleyball-oriented. They could go 7 days a week and play over 4 hours a day. Noah worked while he was in college, and studying wasn’t as high a priority as it was in high school. During college, he learned that we get a lot more freedom to do what we want. After college, Noah found a job; his goal is to retire early, and teach math (Noah is also working on an education master’s degree!) During college, it could be beneficial for one to work, because it helps us gain experience and build our resume. Noah worked for a bookstore during his time in college and worked his way through IT. Once we have a college degree, it gets our foot in the door at a company. However, the most important thing comes down to your ability to problem-solve, critically think, and collaborate. We could also build our experience through projects. It’s more important to show the company that we have the skills and experience to do certain things.

Connections are also important in college. Noah had his volleyball friend group and connections from AST. Once everyone graduates, people go to different countries. For example, when Noah travels to Europe, he doesn’t have to find housing because he has friends there. We should also get to know more people during college, and maybe we would find someone that would be our future boy/girlfriend.

We are glad that Noah could come back and visit AST again and share with us about his life and some advice about high school/college life!