Surrounded by colorful books, Bora Koyuncuoglu (’23) patiently explains a difficult topic to a group of young students at the San Jose Public Library. As they slowly begin to grasp the idea, eager smiles spread across their faces, and their eyes light up with gratitude and excitement. A rush of gratification fills Bora, treasuring seeing their improvement as he helps them study for their tests and complete their homework. 

As someone who struggled with balancing his workload at the start of high school, Bora now gives back to his community by tutoring younger students. Through tutoring, he also connects through his Turkish cultural background, having taught English to many Turkish students.

“I look forward to tutoring students just to see the smiles on their faces,” Bora said. “All the students always want to go with me. It’s nice being there because everyone’s like, ‘I want to go with Coach Bora.’ People look forward to being with me, which is why I enjoy going there.”

Inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of his students, he always looks forward to seeing the smiles on their faces and being able to help them better understand various concepts. Not only has he formed bonds with his students, he has also developed the ability to keep them engaged and work with others.

“I’ve learned how to work with kids and what works best and how to manage them and keep them engaged,” Bora said. “You have to incorporate lots of hands-on things; you have to bond with them on a personal level a little bit so they don’t doze off.”

Bora brings this spirit of collaboration to water polo as well. Beginning in middle school, Bora grew to love the interactions he had with his teammates as he grew more experienced as a player.

“I really enjoy going to games with my team,” Bora said. “You get to travel with your team [to] play, to compete. It’s a fun time playing sports as well as bonding with your teammates.”

Throughout the years, Bora has gained an appreciation for the competitive nature of the sport. Both the physical and the mental aspects of the game challenge him to train hard and learn to work as a team.

“Water polo is one of the most physically demanding sports,” Bora said. “I’ve gained lots of strength from it. I’ve also been able to be a part of a sports varsity sports team. For a lot of high school, it’s a good experience that I’ve had because I’ve become more of a person who’s able to cooperate and work with others and be a part of the team.”

Close friend and water polo teammate Indigo Lee (’23) values the experience of growing with Bora on the team and improving their technique together.

“I have really looked up to Bora as a mentor for athletics,” Indigo said. He’s someone who has more experience than me by far. He’s been playing for eight or nine years, so he knows everything. It’s fun to look at someone like that and learn from him, be a student.”

Indigo also recalled Bora’s ability to help people converse better with each other in many different groups. In this way, Indigo feels like he is able to find an outlet from school.

“We’re both very motivated,” Indigo said. “It’s beneficial to be around someone that can both take my mind off of things, but also help me concentrate and push through the difficulties of high school.”

Upper school math teacher Caren Furtado noted his energetic personality in class and the way he loved to interact with different classmates. She commends his self-awareness and desire to learn and improve, a quality which Bora carries with him in all of his interests from tutoring to water polo. 

“Bora is very self-aware,” Furtado said. “I had a conversation with him, and I’m quite impressed with how thoughtful he was about his own practices and how much he’s thought about what he can do to make it better for himself.”