Dr
.
Elena
Voss
Department
Chair
,
History
&
Social
Sciences
Lincoln
High
School
· 4420
SE
Hawthorne
Blvd
·
Portland
,
OR
97215
elena
.
voss
@
lincolnhs
.
edu
· (503) 555-0182
October
14, 2025
To
the
Admissions
Committee
,
Office
of
Undergraduate
Admissions
It
is
my
distinct
pleasure
to
recommend
Marcus
Chen
for
admission
to
your
institution
.
I
have
taught
Marcus
for
two
years
—
first
in
Honors
World
History
and
again
this
year
in
AP
United
States
History
—
and
have
advised
the
Lincoln
Debate
Society
alongside
him
since
his
junior
year
.
In
that
time
,
he
has
distinguished
himself
as
one
of
the
most
intellectually
serious
and
genuinely
kind
students
I
have
encountered
in
fourteen
years
of
teaching
.
Marcus
possesses
a
rare
combination
of
analytical
rigor
and
creative
problem
-
solving
.
Last
spring
,
he
earned
a
perfect
score
on
the
Document
-
Based
Question
portion
of
the
AP
US
History
practice
exam
,
a
feat
no
student
at
Lincoln
had
achieved
in
nearly
a
decade
.
More
impressive
than
the
grade
,
however
,
was
his
willingness
to
spend
six
Saturday
mornings
organizing
peer
-
review
sessions
so
that
his
classmates
could
strengthen
their
own
essays
.
Thirty
-
seven
students
attended
voluntarily
,
and
the
cohort
'
s
average
DBQ
score
rose
by
1.4
points
.
What
sets
Marcus
apart
is
his
resilience
.
He
emigrated
from
Taipei
at
the
start
of
his
sophomore
year
,
speaking
limited
English
,
and
was
reading
college
-
level
historical
monographs
in
his
second
language
by
junior
year
.
He
channels
that
experience
into
advocacy
:
he
founded
Lincoln
'
s
Cross
-
Cultural
Literacy
Initiative
,
which
pairs
multilingual
upperclassmen
with
ninth
-
grade
English
-
language
learners
for
weekly
mentorship
.
The
program
now
serves
twenty
-
three
students
and
has
been
adopted
by
two
neighboring
districts
.
Marcus
is
the
kind
of
student
who
makes
a
classroom
better
simply
by
being
in
it
.
He
listens
carefully
,
asks
questions
that
change
the
direction
of
a
discussion
,
and
extends
grace
to
peers
who
think
differently
.
I
recommend
him
without
reservation
and
with
complete
confidence
that
he
will
contribute
meaningfully
to
your
academic
community
and
campus
life
.
Sincerely
,
Dr
.
Elena
Voss
Department
Chair
,
History
&
Social
Sciences
Lincoln
High
School
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