Source Intern Makes Good

Ezra Oncken, a recent intern for the Source, is going places.

A senior at Cascades Academy in Bend, Oncken was named a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist, along with classmate Angel Morriss.

Oncken and Morriss are two of only four Bend high school students to earn that distinction this year. It’s a big deal: about 1.2 million students took the battery of National Merit Scholarship tests this year, yet only 16,000 of those, and fewer than 1% of seniors, made the semifinal cut.

Ezra Oncken, 17, a senior at Cascades Academy and former Source
intern, is one of those teens you meet where you go, “Wow, you’ve really got
it figured out.” Credit: Cascades Academy

Here at the Source, we’re not the least bit surprised that Oncken has notched an impressive scholastic achievement en route to college, which he’ll begin next year after graduating in the spring. Oncken, 17, impressed us when he penned a cover letter to our editors, politely asking if he might work for us as part of a for-credit professional immersion class offered by Cascades Academy.

Friendly and unassuming, Oncken worked from our office once a week, beginning last fall. When not helping Managing Editor Nic Moye with administrative tasks, Oncken showed a knack for music journalism, consistently writing about local and touring bands, no matter the genre — metal, punk, grindcore, what have you.

That proclivity shouldn’t be surprising, as Oncken, along with his brother Nicolas Oncken, were featured in the Source for their love of violin playing in March 2018. Then only 9, Ezra and his brother, 11, were devoted players, practicing several times daily in preparation for sessions with a violin tutor each Sunday.

While Oncken has played violin since he was 3, he began reading Harry Potter books by the time he was in kindergarten.

Oncken told the Source he’s applying to 13 colleges, many of which have lower acceptance rates. He said earning the accolade as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist will hopefully sharpen up his college applications. His fresh portfolio of Source clips can’t hurt, either.

The internship with the Source, Oncken said, was the first time for a lot of things: coming up with relevant questions for interviews and even writing articles in the first place.

“It was the whole experience of working with other people,” Oncken said. “And being able to go in depth on specific topics and write about them it was just really interesting and fun.”

Additionally, as members of Cascades Academy’s Class of 2027, Oncken and Morriss are the first class in the state to graduate with a Mastery Transcript, a digital, interactive document layered with a student’s credentials. According to the Mastery Transcript Consortium, more than 3,000 students have been admitted to college with a Mastery Transcript by 1,019 participating colleges and universities throughout the country.