For many students, leaving high school to pursue a project that could change the world is not a common path to take, but is one former student Thomas Hunt decided upon himself.
After completing his freshman year at Saratoga in 2012, Hunt left high school to focus on cancer research through the Thiel Fellowship. He would be a senior now, but has been at the Fellowship ever since sophomore year.
Created by Peter Thiel, the former CEO of PayPal, in 2010, the Thiel Foundation gives 20 people under 20 years old $100,000 annually in funding, mentors to guide them and over two years to work on a project of their choice that will potentially change the world. Fellows keep up with their high school curriculum through online classes.
Hunt is trying to find cures for cancer by learning about types of Telomere Maintenance Mechanism (TMM), which are special strands of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes, and are used by cancer cells as they divide uncontrollably.
“I am really interested in using automation, a technique that removes human error in lab and decreases the time needed to perform lab procedures,” said Hunt. “This allows the researcher to focus more on data analysis.”
After his grandfather was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, Hunt realized that he wanted to find a way to help prevent the suffering that cancer causes other victims and their loved ones. Meeting with many other Thiel Fellows from the first class of 2011, Hunt felt greatly inspired.
“Their spectacular stories of self-education, combined with my growing interest in cancer research was a great motivation to leave school to pursue a career in biotech,” he said.
From there, he made the decision to apply for the fellowship. Hunt said the application was extensive, as first submitting an application for his project, and then going to a number of interviews before his final presentation in San Francisco. At the end of the process, the selection committee took a month to narrow the applicants down the 20 finalists. Hunt was notified through a video call and was selected as a 2014 fellow, leaving Saratoga High in 2012.
“My mother was initially skeptical and concerned for my overall education,” Hunt said. “However, after when I outlined a plan for learning by taking courses at the local college as well as online learning such as Khan Academy, she felt more at ease.”
Leaving high school and not being able to see his friends was a difficult decision, but he has made many new friends and is pleased to have the opportunity to be at the front line of groundbreaking technology.
Hunt is in the process of moving to San Francisco to live in group houses provided for the Fellows and students in the Bay Area. On weekends, he comes back to Saratoga to visit family and friends.
Senior Ethan Ngai, who has remained in contact with Hunt, wasn’t surprised by his friend’s decision to leave school for research.
“He was always a really science [focused] kid,” Ngai said. “[He] always had the bomb booth at the science fair and [was] really into biology.”
Even though cancer research is difficult, Hunt remains just as motivated as he was when he first applied to be a Thiel Fellow.
“It is common to make a small error and ruin an entire experiment,” said Hunt. “However, there is no greater joy than a successful experiment that moves my research forward.