This past month, North High’s own Tomi Shamash was awarded a $160,000 scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Interim Principal Mr. DePaulo even pulled Shamash, a rising senior, out of class, personally escorted him around the school, and proudly introduced him to multiple classrooms to share the news. But Tomi’s talents and interests go far beyond numbers.
He’s deeply involved in the music department, where he plays French Horn. He even composed a piece that the band performed at the school art fair. He loves music and it’s definitely something that he wants to continue in life even if it’s not as a career. He would still like to play music as a means of expressing himself and to exhibit artistic growth.
Additionally, Shamash lights up when he talks about linguistics. He’s captivated by the way languages form, evolve, and carry culture.
“It’s so interesting to see how languages develop and how different families and cultures are. There’s so much out there to learn,” he said.
Shamash speaks five languages: Hebrew, Arabic, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. He’s fluent in four. English and Hebrew are his first languages. He learned Arabic with help from his cousins in Israel and through online study, taking incredible advantage of the overlap between Hebrew and Arabic. He then started Portuguese on Duolingo and practices by speaking with Brazilian people he met in New York and at science fairs. To top it all off, Spanish is a language he studies at North High and uses often.
This summer, Shamash is taking his love of language even further. He will be doing linguistic research with a professor at Brown University.
“We are researching Yeshivish which is a forming dialect of English. It is spoken in yeshivish communities around the United States. There is very little empirical research on this dialect because of how new it is, so this professor and I are going to start the trail of research on the language,” he said.
To Tomi, Yeshivish a is more than just a new language, but part of a bigger story.
“It’s very similar to Yiddish in Germany or Ladino in Spain. They are Jewish languages within a non Jewish nation. It’s such a groundbreaking development and this should not be missed, both to understand this new language and how Jewish languages like Yiddish and Yeshivish form around the globe.”
His enthusiasm is clear, and so is his advice:
“It’s more worth it to do something you actually care about. Just because I’m good at math doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. When you have the opportunity to do research, don’t waste it on things that you’re not interested in.”
He chooses to continue doing the things that motivate him and make him excited, instead of just checking off boxes and extracurriculars. He is the perfect example of the importance of doing research that you are genuinely interested in, and participating in activities that are personally meaningful. Tomi Shamash isn’t just an impressive student, he’s a reminder that having real passions can drive you far.
