VIDEO - Vaulting into the Future

Ever since elementary school, Tyler Weitzman has had a love for technology. This four-year senior has contributed greatly to Exeter during his time here, expanding The Exonian Web Board, leading the Inventions Club, competing as varsity pole vaulter and more. But it’s not just his accomplishments that make Weitzman stand out, it’s his strong passion towards everything he does.Weitzman was the previous head of The Exonian’s Web Board. When he took over, there were only ten other members. Weitzman recruited many new kids, tripling the size of Web Board to thirty students. Now the Web Board produces weekly videos, performs daily background changes on the site, and displays photo galleries. Weitzman also initiated a project to digitize The Exonian’s archives, creating a searchable database that currently goes back to 2004. Weitzman hopes they will be able to go all the way back to 1878.Upper and new head of The Exonian Web Board, Brandon Wang commented upon Weitzman’s leadership in the previous board. He especially noted Weitzman’s friendly nature towards all members of the Web section.“Tyler was a great leader in the Web Board of The Exonian. He was affable and approachable to all members of the Web section,” Wang said.The Exonian Web Board is not the only way Weitzman shares his excellence in technological innovation. During his free time he creates applications and publishes them on online app stores.“That’s what is magical to me about computer science, programming. You put in a set of instructions and the computer just repeats it for you in anyway that you want. And you can create an app for example, like I do, and put it on the store,” Weitzman said. “And those special set of instructions somehow do something useful that other people in the world might benefit from.”Weitzman continued, reflecting upon the sales of his applications. “It’s really cool to see how my apps are being downloaded by thousands of people around the world, speaking all of these different languages, and benefiting from these set of instructions written in the computer science language that I distributed over the Internet.”Proctor and senior in Abbot Hall with Weitzman, Kihong Ahn expressed his admiration of Weitzman’s talent. “My first memory of Tyler is when he stuck his hand out for a handshake and showed me his iPhone apps,” Ahn said. “I was frankly astonished to see a kid of my age so motivated and excited about his work and pitied myself for not being devoted to something.”Weitzman is also involved in various different clubs on campus. He created an electronic voting system for the Student Council to improve the voting process and an ID card attendance system. He is also the head of the Inventions Club, where members discuss and create original technologies.“Last year we made an arcade game wirelessly controlled by an iPhone, so we are just expanding on that,” he said. “In the spring there’s an idea for making a giant piano and putting it in the Quad where people can just come and jump on the keys. In Inventions Club now we are working on a crossbow that is controlled remotely with an iPhone.”Weitzman’s interest does not only focus on technologies, but also stretches to various areas of the arts, such as music and theater.“I think the biggest thing that I am doing now that’s new is more acting and dancing and singing and theater,” Weitzman said. “I was in the musical Working.”He continued, “That was a really fun experience for me because it’s something new that I haven’t done quite enough of before. And it really taught me a lot of things that I might not be able to get in class: more confidence, more ability to control my intonation and my mood.”Pole-vaulting is another activity in which Weitzman immerses himself in. He competes as a pole-vaulter on the varsity track team with a record of clearing eleven and a half feet, the equivalent to the second floor of the cage.“It’s a sport that fascinates me, and I really adore it because of all the physics behind it,” he explained. “I’ve even gone and done calculations for the angles and the energy. I also take videos of myself and look at them backwards in slow motion and compare them to Olympic pole vaulters to see where I can improve.”Along with his passions and accomplishments, dorm life has also played an integral aspect of his life in Exeter. “I really love Abbot. It’s like a second family to me. My friends are life long friends and we are all really close and it is really fun,” Weitzman said. “So I will definitely miss everyone when I graduate at the end of the year.”Other members of Abbot shared their memories and appreciation of Weitzman. Wang especially noted Weitzman's empathy towards all members of the dorm.“He visits often, speaks with people inside the dorm, and is willing to make friends feel better when they are feeling down,” Wang said.Ahn echoed Wang’s sentiments and explained that Weitzman uses his skills to help other students in the dorm. “In the dorm, he is very willing to help others. He is also always willing to utilize his talents for others’ benefits,” he said.Overall, Weitzman is grateful for the experiences and the opportunities he was granted by attending Exeter and ultimately who he has become. “It’s kind of difficult to judge exactly how all of this came together, but it did and I am really happy with what I have, and I recognize all the privileges that I have, and I am really happy to be where I am and to be here at Exeter.”