AP Frank: The Workhorse

Felix Barbieri and Robert Padmore

Character Traits
Dynamic

Hardworking

Idealistic

Chill

Ballsy

A person of strong conviction

Quotes
Middle of Book:

“When AP Frank was a junior, he was a self-proclaimed ‘stress freak’ who hyperventilates at the
thought of earning less than an A. AP Frank wondered how long his brother would put up with their
mother. He remembered the Januardy day he had been his own breaking point, when Mr. Murphy had
asked him, ‘Can you just be brave for six more months?’” (Robbins 114).

End of Book:

“‘Me and Frank make up the Fun Contingent of this dorm’ ...AP Frank grinned. He had succeeded in
reflecting the person he had hoped to become at college, away from home. He had finally broken the
‘study-hard-no-social-life nerd’ image that had been dogging him all his life” (Robbins 280).
Was AP Frank Successful?
AP Frank ended up designing his own video games for Suppressive Fire Games, LLC- it is
unclear the path he took to get there but I would consider him successful, especially as
Suppressive Fire Games is registered to produce on all major platforms such as Xbox, Wii,
Steam, and Playstation.

He also graduated from Harvard with an exceptional GPA, built friendships with students
that stayed in his dorm, and arguably the hardest feat of all, broke the bubble that his mom
had trapped him and his brother in. AP Frank was not only successful, but evolved from
someone who was known as “AP Frank” to just “Frank.”
Advice
We would tell AP Frank to keep being himself. He began to find his own way by breaking
out of his mother’s shell, and by doing this he flourished. He has to pursue career paths
that feel right to him because his instincts have set him on the right path so far. Given
where he is at the end of the book, he will end up being a very successful man, especially
because he is incredibly hardworking, but more so because he values his own mental
health and happiness over other more trivial and stressful things. We believe that for AP
Frank to be successful for the rest of his life, he simply should stand up and speak for
himself, which has and will lead to happiness.
How do we compare to AP Frank?
AP Frank Similarities Felix and Bobby

● Takes incredibly ● Plays video games in ● Classes are not nearly

challenging classes in
high school (17 AP’s) ● Has been a captain of
● Is not allowed to
participate in athletics
or extracurriculars
● Has an incredibly strict
mother
● Can’t hang out with
friends outside of
school
● Pressured to attend a
prestigious college
free time as challenging
● Engages in more
a sports team extracurriculars
voluntarily -
publications plus
sports.
● Our parents
encourage us but let
us do what we need to
do to be well-rounded.
● Hang out with our
friends all the time
outside of school
● Not hyper-focused on
attending an Ivy