Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Daniel Qin-Dong '17 figured he had submitted a worthy paper for the International Conference on Political Science, Sociology and International Relations when the organization referred to him as Dr. Daniel Qin-Dong in an acceptance letter.
Daniel, with the guidance of Mr. Sean McGrath '07 of the English Department, will present his interpretation of "Midnight's Children" at the sixth annual global conference in Singapore Sept. 26-27.
"When they emailed me back they addressed me as Dr. Daniel Qin-Dong, which is kind of interesting," Daniel said. "I don't think they recognized I was in high school. I might be the only high school student there.
"Being accepted to the conference was totally unexpected. I think I was at Rice's when my dad texted me and told me I was accepted. I submitted it such a long time ago; I almost forgot I submitted it. This will be a great experience. I want to get the experience from the conference."
Daniel wrote a sociology paper for Mr. McGrath's Honors English 10 class a year ago. He took the suggested edits, worked on the paper some more and showed his dad, who is a sociology professor at Westfield State University. Daniel's dad told him if he kept working on the paper, he could submit it to a conference. Daniel took his dad's suggestion and was later accepted for the PSSIR conference, which draws university professors, business owners and government officials from throughout the world.
"All the professors are researching things I want to research in college and in the future," said Daniel, who plans to pursue a career in international relations or political science.
"I owe a lot of this to Mr. McGrath. Before Honors English 10, or any English classes I took here in general, I wasn't too confident in my writing. I didn't think it was a strong suit for me. When I was younger I actually thought I was more of a math person, but now that's totally changed. After writing the paper for Mr. McGrath, he gave me the confidence I needed to think about doing something like this. Without that mindset and the growth mindset our school emphasizes so much, I wouldn't have this opportunity. I owe a big thanks to Mr. McGrath and the English Department in general."