By Grace Dennett

Max Polich enters the room with the ease and grace of an athlete, his handsome face lighting up with genuine happiness at the sight of his friends. He sits right down and begins chatting, immediately open and friendly. With true modesty, Polich describes his life as a stellar student in his junior year of Westborough High School, somehow managing to balance his music, school, and sports.

Every day, for an entire hour, Polich practices his cello, which he has been playing since first grade. In addition to being a member of the chamber orchestra and string ensemble at the high school, he has regular private lessons with a cellist teacher. He was even a member of an ensemble at the New England Conservatory.

Polich also is a talented runner who has loved running since he first tried it in middle school where he ran both cross country and outdoor track. When he entered high school, he gladly committed to being a three-year runner, joining the cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams. Polich looks forward to practice every day, since it “takes the focus off of school”. Polich believes that running has really disciplined and strengthened him in all areas of his life. Though he isn’t sure if he’ll pursue running as a sport in college, he knows he will always make time for it as exercise and enjoyment.

On top of his music and running, Polich is a good student and takes many challenging classes, putting a lot of effort into his schoolwork. His biggest weakness is procrastination of his homework and studying, but he gets everything done eventually. After he has completed his sports and cello practices every day, he gets down to business, letting the pressure motivate him. “I actually work a lot better under the pressure; it helps me to think faster and more creatively.” Polich isn’t completely sure about what his plans are for after high school, only knowing that he wants to “stay local” and go to a college nearby.

In his rare free time, Polich enjoys hanging out with friends as much as he can. A favorite activity for him and his friends is playing their favorite video game, ‘Super Smash Brothers.’ Polich enjoys video games in general.

Polich is also a big family guy, loving the time he spends with his parents and brother, and also his other relatives. He especially likes summer for this reason, since all of them stay at his grandma’s house, and he is able to see them every day. “Everyone comes; it’s so fun” mentions Polich. His grandma’s house is on a lake in Rhode Island, and also very close to the ocean, so the whole family can do all sorts of water activities together. Politch explainns, “My favorite is definitely building sand castles on the beach with my mom.”

Polich has lived in Westborough his whole life. His mother works as a physical therapist and his father is a project manager for the Federal Bank of Boston. His older brother, Zach, lives in New York City and works at Barclay Banks. Polich is very close to his older brother and misses him a lot, treasuring the times when they can visit each other. Something that Polich likes to do with his family is to attend their long-time church in Newton every Sunday, where his dad is a priest. Polich enjoys going to church, especially when he can help out with the youth group. “I clearly remember looking up to the youth group leaders as a boy, and now I want to leave them with the same good impression.”

Polich wasn’t always such a golden example, however. As a child, he describes himself as “quite the troublemaker.” Once, when his father refused to take him to McDonald’s for one of the cheeseburgers he so loved, mischievous young Polich sliced his father’s shirt up the back with a pair of scissors. His father, who was consumed with his work at the computer, only noticed a while later when he was on his way out the door, and his shirt came off. Another story that Polich happily shared from his childhood, was the time he covered his sleeping brother with copious amounts of baby powder: “I don’t remember my motives. I just remember being very careful to completely fill his ears with the powder.”

One of Polich’s favorite memories was in the summer before seventh grade, when his mother took him to Chinatown and bought him a tiny turtle. After much thought, Polich concluded that his new little friend looked distinctly like a ‘Yurtle,’ and named him thus. Despite the fact that Yurtle is hardly fed, Polich is confident in his tiny turtle’s abilities: “I think Yurtle will surpass me someday; he’ll probably live forever.”

Max Polich has a good sense of humor, which is why so many people enjoy his company. He certainly looks good on paper, but he’s even better in real life.