“Asking Stanford” is a series of small stories from Stanford students that come together to highlight the diversity of experiences and perspectives on campus. 

Assistant Tennis Coach

My first high school job wasn’t at an office or a lab, but on the tennis court. This was ironic at the time, because I neither considered myself an experienced tennis player nor a dedicated athlete. But it was alright, because I was an assistant coach at a tennis camp for elementary and middle schoolers. In a lot of ways, it’s similar to helping a friend with a p-set in a class I took last year — I’m teaching something I’m not particularly good at at an advanced level, but because I have done it for a very long time and am still not very good at it, I’m good at explaining the basics.

So for a few weeks, I spent my afternoons showing kids who could probably beat me on a bad day (in other words, a day when I was prone to hitting the ball into the net) how to swing their rackets to put the best spin on the ball; how to plant their feet to serve; and most importantly, how to sneak water breaks without the coach noticing. Above all, I learned how to teach a subject in its most basic element — something I have carried to this day. Instead of schooling classmates who have never written a single line of code on pointers and recursion, I’ve learned the patience to explain for loops, variable naming and indentation. And, I’ve learned not only how to accomplish this task in a successful and (hopefully) compassionate manner, but I’ve also learned to enjoy it. – Emmie Kao ’29

Neurology Intern

Each morning at 8 a.m., I arrived at the neurology clinic, ready for another hectic day of interning. 

With a list of fifty patient phone numbers in hand, I diligently called patients to remind them of their appointment time (of which some, thinking it was spam, would hang up). All day, I frantically followed my supervising nurse around. I helped scrub clinic beds, rushed through the halls to track down late arrivals and took blood pressures while chatting with patients. These tasks were time-consuming and repetitive, but I became fast at it and quickly realized their importance. It was only through these precise checks set by nurses and administration that the healthcare system could run smoothly. Through them, patients could receive the care they deserved.

As I got more familiar with my tasks, I was allowed to greet patients and observe the neurologists’ appointments. I vividly remember comforting a mother who was crying after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. I also talked with a girl who had undergone ten neural surgeries since childhood due to brain cancer. I learned so much from these patients — about medical conditions, about treatments, but most of all about resilience. I deeply admired that despite facing life-altering situations, the patients I’ve met did not halt. They might have faltered, but they marched on. 

As I go through my frosh year and I face my share of trials, I take with me the knowledge I’ve learned from my internship. I carry not only the resilience of the patients I’ve met, but also a strong determination to engineer solutions for their diagnoses. – Amber Lin ’30

Summer Systems Administrator

I was freshly thirteen years old when I got my first job offer to work as a summer systems administrator, an IT job, at my technical school. At that time, I was the youngest technical school student in my state, there entirely for the love of the trade. I was so thrilled that I accepted on the spot. I was paid $7.25 an hour to do a job that adults do for six figures, and at first, I liked it. However, I very quickly realized that being thirteen when everyone else around you is seventeen or eighteen years old can be a terrible thing. I was ostracized from the rest of them and was even occasionally subject to violence.

It was difficult to experience this while doing something I loved, and this job permanently changed the way I viewed my technical school and systems administration. I began associating the field with my experiences that summer and less with the work I enjoyed, and as a result, I went to public school the next year. To this day, I am not fond of IT work. My biggest lesson was that there are some situations that will never be safe for you even if you really want them to be. In the years following, I learned how to protect myself against hostile environments, but also how to know when it’s time to leave. – Robin Demangone ’28

Violin Teacher

My first job, which I held around senior year of high school, was teaching violin. My only student was a tiny, shy girl in fifth grade. I quickly realized it’s one thing to play, quite another to teach, and the same is true of any skill. I felt a sobering sense of responsibility — as her first teacher, I would be moulding fundamental habits which, if formed incorrectly, would take years of trouble and frustration to correct. Despite these misgivings, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was gratifying and touching to see my little student look at her violin with such wonder, explore the new, awkward positions, draw out her first hoarse squeak from the violin. Attempting to explain what I did and see it through her beginner’s perspective gave me a newfound appreciation for the wonder and difficulty of my craft, and a newfound respect for my violin teachers throughout the years. – Lily Zou ’29

Waitress

I first worked at Sanraku at Oakridge, a name I remember because I spoke it every shift into our crackling landline. The summer before I came to Stanford, I showed up to a local Japanese restaurant with my overfilled resume in hand, and got hired as a waitress. The subsequent months of July, August and September were filled with memorizing names of fish, learning how to use a keg and eating all sorts of scrumptious snacks the chefs would sneak me. During this time, our building also caught on fire, the entire water system exploded and I witnessed a burglary. Though this experience was two years ago, I still keep in touch with a few of my co-workers, who always ask how Stanford is going and if I will come back to the restaurant. I currently have no plans to go back to my waitressing days, but I see glimmers of this job in my diminished fear of speaking to strangers. – Sharis Hsu ’28