The vice-president of the just-graduated Fairfield Warde class of 2009 said that he studies by trying to make sense of things, by figuring out the underlying principles.
"I tutor math a lot. I started tutoring in exchange for donations for multiple sclerosis." (His grandmother had it all her adult life and he now makes a business of his tutoring, as well.) "Kids would say, 'Do I use this equation here?' "
"I said, 'Instead of memorizing the formula, figure out for yourself why it's being used and how we derive it. What is the proof for it?' " said Evan.
"Tutoring is fun and it really helps me, too. I have to make sure I know it," he said.
His passion may be science and math, "But the ideals of science can only take you so far. There has to be a human component to what you do," said Evan, explaining that he intends to take many courses in the humanities when he is at Yale, including, hopefully, one from his favorite poet, Louise Gluck.
He may even major in that very human science, economics. But more likely, it will be physics because that discipline has so many applications in medicine and his dream is to start a biotech company.
Nonetheless, he admits he may have "a little bit of a politician" in him, so he's also thinking of possibly running for office or working for a think tank.
While his favorite author may be the iconoclastic and creative physicist Richard Feynman, he's also a big fan of those analysts of the political/economic world, Thomas Friedman and Fareed Zakaria.
Evan is extremely grateful to all his teachers and to the Fairfield School system for giving him so many chances to achieve. He calls Fairfield Warde "a very welcomiing place to go everyday," saying it's a place where he does many activities and, "where I see my friends."
Evan has won numerous awards. He is very proud of winning first place in Mathematics in the Connecticut State Science Fair in his Junior year. He says he wasn't doing it to be competitive, "I was just doing my best work."
Among his other awards is a Certificate of Achievement in the University of Connecticut Writing Project that he got for "The Cosmic Tapestry" and "Endless Gateway," both poems about another of his interests, astronomy.
He and his parents are understandably thrilled with his having won a $5,000 Claes Nobel scholarship sponsored by a member of the Nobel family. Out of 12,000 applicants, only ten high school seniors were chosen for "excellence in academics, leadership and community service."
Still, "I'm more proud that he's genuine and sweet and nice than that he's valedictorian," said Bebe Feinberg, Evan's mom, who was a play-therapist before staying at home after Evan was born. Dad, Mark, is an orthodontist in Stratford and sister, Lauren, 24, a former Warde salutatorian, will study for an MFA in playwriting next year.
"I owe a lot to my parents. They're very supportive and I'm very grateful," said Evan.
Mom and son watch Jeopardy together to see who can answer the last question.
Summer plans? Last year, Evan did research at Yale in neuroscience, injecting cocaine into mice and analyzing "reams of data." This year, he'll spend the next few weeks finishing a research project for his math teacher at Fairfield University, where he's been taking courses. And then? He plans to play golf.
"Three hours of golf is like a mini-vacation," he says. And, for once, he'll be trying to get as low a score as possible. Hopefully, down to the low 80s.