Jonas Orlov

I have taken three college-level courses once at Brown and twice at Harvard, earning an A in all classes. They are “Great Trials That Changed History: A Judge’s Perspective”( Brown 2023, Noncredit), Controversies in Science, Tech, and Religion (Harvard 2024, 4 credits earned), and " Nationalism( Harvard 2025, 4 Credits earned). My letter of recommendation from my professor at Brown is below.

“Great Trials That Changed History: A Judge’s Perspective.”

HONORABLE DENNIS J. CURRAN

Justice

Massachusetts Superior Court (ret.)

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Email Address: jdenniscurran@gmail.com

Cell) (781) 697-7784

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Instructor

Summer@Brown

August 3, 2023

Re: Letter of Recommendation for Jonas Orlov

To Whom It May Concern:

Jonas was, by far, the most engaged and competitive student, among many other strong students, in our Brown University’s summer enrichment course, “Great Trials That Changed History: A Judge’s Perspective.”

Jonas has an almost-insatiable hunger for knowledge. His intellectual interests are diverse: history and law, but also neurology and physiology.

A few words about this course and the summer program are first in order.

Each year, Summer@ Brown attracts 7,400 highly motivated and competitive students from all 50 states and 70 countries to prepare for college success and meet the challenges of an Ivy League education. The course was taught during the dog days of summer in June and July when most high school students are not necessarily spending three weeks in an intense, college preparatory course.

Ours was a demanding class that condensed 13 weeks of usual course time into 3 weeks.

The class received a different work module on every day of the week, Monday through Friday. Many of the students worked during the weekends to keep up with the material. The seminar required students to devote time to satisfy a rigorous reading schedule to enable them to participate meaningfully and thoughtfully in classroom exercise and discourse.

Because ours was an interactive course, we had lengthy class discussions about a different Great Trial scheduled for each morning. Jonas always tackled the more demanding and challenging questions. He was fearless.

Each student was also required to present before the class on a “Great Trial” of hischoice. This required an additional minimum of ten hours of assigned readings, watching a movie or video, and conducting further research, piled atop daily readings, and preparation for class participation and robust discussion.

In other words, this course is not for the faint of heart.

Although I have a reputation as a nice fellow, I am not a light taskmaster. I see my role as preparing these students for rigorous college study and a successful professional career.

The course was fast-paced and dynamic.

Each day, we discussed a different trial. Each student was expected to read the assignments timely and be prepared to discuss them substantively. To enable them to do so, I posed thought-provoking questions about each trial on Canvas. The goal was to have each student “think like a lawyer” in approaching a case, identify legal issues, and discern for himself whether justice was served in a particular trial.

During our final week, each student was required to deliver a 20-minute oral and visual presentation on a “great trial” of his own choice. Jonas’s presentation,entitled “Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials,” was well-written, well-delivered, and accompanied by excellent graphics. His presentation was the finest performance in a class of highly intelligent, highly competitive and highly focused other students.

Each Friday, we conducted a “Jeopardy” contest, designed to test what the students had learned during the week. I selected Jonas to captain one of the three teams. Jonas took the buzzer and calmly (or at least he tried) to maneuver diplomatically between the many different answers being yelled into his ears during his team's chance. It was disquieting (no, it really was a zoo!), and yet through it all, Jonas exhibited an equanimity few could show.

Jonas was pitched in (when other students did not) when I struggled with our audio-visual system in conducting PowerPoint presentations each day. I appreciated his selflessness.

In short, Jonas’s course work was impressive; he demonstrated a strong intellectual curiosity.

At the end of the course, I received an appreciative email from Jonas:

“It was an honor to be in your class at Brown Pre-College. I learned more in such a short time than anywhere else.”

I enjoyed getting to know Jonas on a personal level, often asking him questions about his native country and culture (about which I admittedly knew little.)

Jonas will be a success in any field of endeavor. He enhanced the quality of our class's experience; and we are all the better for it!

I wholeheartedly endorse Jonas in any college application or endeavor he undertakes.

If you have any questions, I can be reached at my personal email address, jdenniscurran@gmail.com or my cell at (781) 697-7784.

Thank you.

Very truly yours,

____________________________

DENNIS J. CURRAN

Justice

Massachusetts Superior Court (Ret.)

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Instructor

Summer @Brown Program

• Ninth in a national Lumos Debate tournament
• Varsity Boys Soccer (2023-2026)
• Varsity Boys Baseball(2023-26)
• Varsity Boys Volleyball(2026-started Team)

• BLAIM( Black-Latino-Asian-Indigenous men) Club
• Asian American Club
• Asian Club
• Model United Nations Club(Secretary General 2025-2026, member 2022-2026)
• F1 club
• basketball club
• volleyball club
• finance and investment club

Hobbies

• Sailing
• Football
• Trying new places to eat
• Soccer
• Delving into History
• Spending time with friends/family
• making new friends

Interests

• Interest in politics and law
• Interest in History( Specifically Ottoman and Chinese)
• Interest in soccer
• Interests in Finance, Economy, and Business
• Interests in different cultures and histories
• Interest in AI and computer Models