Living the Liberal Arts

Growing up on The Frederick Gunn School campus, where his father taught and coached, Skyler Clark ’18 was no stranger to academia. Attending high school at the independent boarding school greatly influenced his perspective on education.

 

“My high school experience consisted of small classes where my teachers really got to know me and were able to hold me accountable whenever I wasn’t reaching my full potential,” he said. “ I learned to appreciate the benefits of small class sizes and I knew I wanted more of the same when it came to college.”

A life-long soccer player, Skyler also knew he wanted to continue playing at the collegiate level. 

“If you search ‘small academically challenging liberal arts college with a strong Division III conference,’ it doesn’t take long to come across Washington College. That’s exactly what happened to me,” he noted. “I knew it was the place I wanted to be. Washington College was the only college I applied to. I sent in my early decision application, was accepted within the next few weeks, and was able to focus on enjoying my last year as a student at a place I’d always called home.”

During his time at WC, Skyler epitomized a liberal arts student: a two-sport varsity athlete, biology and chemistry double major, theatre minor, member of multiple honor societies, and founder of the Anglerman’s Fishing Club. He also made the most of his semester breaks through internships, traveling abroad, and volunteering as an EMT with the local rescue squad.

 

 

 

“Curiosity was always the driving force behind pursuing some sort of career involving the sciences. There is so much about nature—and life in general for that matter—that inspires various why- and how- based questions that I find fascinating. With that being said, I also discovered that being creative and having fun go hand in hand with one another.”

“My theatre minor provided me opportunities to ask, ‘why not?’ and to explore my creative potential. Sophomore year, I had Acting 101 with Polly Sommerfeld sandwiched right in between calculus and organic chemistry. That acting class was a necessary form of rejuvenation.” 

During his junior year, Skyler realized he had taken so many theatre classes for pleasure that it made sense to declare the minor and continue pursuing his creative outlet. He also went on to design for student-directed shows such as Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. 

For his Senior Capstone Experience (SCE), Skyler chose to review the effectiveness of CRISPR-Cas9 as a means of modeling, screening for, and treating cancer. CRISPR-Cas9 was a topic in several of his classes at WC.

“Although there are all sorts of exciting areas in which [CRISPR-Cas9] can be put to good use, I focused on its potential in screening for, modeling, and treating cancer because it’s a disease that affects billions of people,” he said. “Even now, often our best option for fighting cancer is to target the effects by purposefully attacking all cells that undergo rapid cellular division—both cancerous and healthy. Although complicated, the root cause of any type of cancer is genetic. In addition to allowing us to learn more about cancer in general, CRISPR-Cas9 has the potential to completely change the way we treat it by targeting the cause of cancer as opposed to the effects.”

Skyler worked with Associate Professor of Chemistry and Department Co-Chair Dr. James Lipchok and Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Jennifer Wanat on his thesis. He believes their guidance and dedication to his research were pivotal in his SCE qualifying for honors in chemistry.

Today, Skyler joins two Washington College alums (Dean of Students Jo Wrzesinsky and Tim Kerr, history faculty and head boys’ lacrosse coach) at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, where he teaches science, works with declaimers, and is an assistant coach for varsity soccer and varsity lacrosse.

Because of his diverse interests and versatile skill set, arriving at a career in teaching wasn’t a clear path. Skyler credits Lipchok’s junior-year chemistry seminar for preparing him for life post-graduation.

“Many people describe key moments in their life where they come to a crossroad and must decide between one path or another. Because of the opportunities I was provided at Washington, I felt like nearing the end of college was less like arriving at a simple fork in the road and more like rolling up to a major city roundabout,” he reflected.

“Rather than choosing from a single thing I enjoyed doing in the past, I came to recognize how teaching and coaching provide me with the unique opportunity to tether a common and meaningful purpose to so many of my previous experiences,” he explained. “I can teach a variety of different subjects that I find interesting, pass on skills that I developed from playing the sports I love to athletes who are also passionate about the games, implement creativity in subjects that don’t always provide students with a space to be creative, and provide context from my own experience growing up at a boarding school to teenagers who might benefit from being offered a broader perspective.”