Merced High ‘star’ athlete makes impact, hosts podcast and leads class in grades
Senior Spotlight is a series of stories by the Merced Sun-Star highlighting the stories of high school senior athletes from the spring season who had their seasons cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Merced High senior David Chen kept his schedule pretty full as a member of both the swimming team and tennis team this spring.
Chen was one of the top athletes on both teams, which were both undefeated in Central California Conference action before the spring sports season was stopped because of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Chen’s schedule didn’t stop with sports. He is also a National AP Scholar, a National Merit finalist, a Presidential Gold Service Award winner and a USA Biology Olympiad semifinalist.
Plus, he’s president and founder of the science club and co-host of the “We the Students” podcast at Merced High and resident of the Junior Statesmen of America.
Chen does all that and is somehow No. 1 in his class of 407 seniors with a 4.59 GPA.
“I’ve never seen anyone like him,” said Merced athletic director Paul Hogue. “We knew about him coming into high school, but I didn’t realize how good of an athlete and the type of leader his is. He’s a good kid. He’s pretty amazing.”
How is able Chen able to divide his time to be everywhere he needs to be with everything he’s taken on?
“The answer I’m supposed to give is I’m super organized and I’m on top of everything,” Chen said. “The real answer is I didn’t have time to do it all and give quality contributions. You have to sacrifice some of your contributions if you’re going to take on all those responsibilities.”
Chen says the toughest part of picking and choosing how he is going to spend his time is knowing he has to let down some people. He says he has to pick the most important events when deciding how he is going to spend his time.
“The toughest part is you know someone is going to be hurt or someone is going to be left out.,” Chen said. “Whether I had to choose between a swim meet or a science olympiad, you sacrifice that commitment to your teammates and the relationship with your coach.”
Merced swimming coach Kit Grattan says Chen does a pretty good job of laying out his schedule.
“I think he’s been pretty good about communicating if he’s going to have to miss something,” Grattan said. “I feel he’s always given me a chance to say no. It’s hard to tell him don’t help the tennis team go get a win.”
Chen recently earned the top scholarship from the Sac-Joaquin Section by being awarded the Clarke Coover Scholarship worth $1,500. Chen, Merced’s Kaitlynn Perez and Pacheco’s Daniel Herrera were the three local winners of the section Dale A. Lackey’ scholarship award recipients.
Like all the spring athletes, Chen had his season stopped short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Suddenly he wasn’t allowed to go back to school. He wasn’t allowed back in the pool or back on the tennis courts.
Chen says he misses all of it. He misses the social aspect of high school, being able to hang out and talk with his friends. He misses practices, which includes the locker room culture.
“Sports organizes our life,” Chen said. “It keeps us on a schedule, a diet and it helps keep a mindset, as well as our actual fitness. I can feel I’ve regressed in my fitness level.”
What does Chen miss the most?
“That’s the pool. That’s an easy one,” he said. “That’s been very tough. I also miss the tennis court to a certain degree, but I’ve been swimming for the past 11 years. This is the longest I’ve gone with a pool. I even miss then negative stuff like the chlorine in your eyes and the weird smells in the locker room.
“It’s a bittersweet experience you can’t substitute.”
The Merced Union High School District began distance learning this week. Chen believes this “new normal” is going to show people how much students need the classroom.
“I think one of the things we’re going to realize with distance learning is high school doesn’t just provide us with an education,” Chen said. “There are other resources we can use to learn things. High schools gives a place for social interaction. It’s a place to talk to friends. A classroom isn’t just a place of knowledge or a place to learn, it gives students a learning environment where there is collaboration.”
The school shutdowns haven’t kept Chen from continuing to produce his “We the Students” podcast. Chen has helped produce 35 hours of content since the schools closed.
“It turns out remote podcasting made it easier so I took advantage of it,” Chen said.
Chen says the podcast is one of his proudest achievements. It started as an English assignment. He enjoyed it so much he continued on with it and he has been producing podcasts for a year. He and his co-host Cal Slattan, who is also a Merced High senior, have had teachers, politicians, activists and army officers as guests and he’s talked about wide range of topics, including mental health, academic performances, teenage lifestyle and politics related to students.
“He’s the epitome of what we want in a scholar athlete,” Hogue said. “He’s a good kid. He’s always polite when he talks to you. Everyone knows him on campus. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like him.”
Grattan, who’s been walking up and down pool decks as a varsity swimming coach for 21 years and 38 years coaching all levels of swimming, says he doesn’t get athletes like Chen too often.
“He was positive about everything, even when were struggling here or there,” Grattan said. “He was always looking for a solution, whether it was working with teammates or how he could mentally prepare.”
“He’s one of those athletes you get every 10 years,” Grattan added. “I’ve had some equally tough athletes but he was the complete package. He’s such a nice person, super smart, team oriented and such a hard worker. He’s a good representative for us in the community and at the school level.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 1:22 PM.
