Chen was not completely blind until his sophomore year in high school. before tenth grade, his eyesight was far from perfect, but he could still see well enough to participate in freestyle biking and other activities.

"[My eyesight was] better than it is now," he laughs.

He lost his sight completely during the last of four operations to improve the vision in his left eye. Chen says it is "questionable" exactly what happened during the operation, but his optic nerve was destroyed, and his sight was gone.

"Sure, I was angry," he says. "The typical American thing is to use them for malpractice. But I don't find myself really angry anymore. I'm just angry that my parents were subjected to all this and had to pay for all those things that were supposed to work and didn't.

His older brother Richard says: "It was sort of tough, but it made him even more independent, which is sort of ironic."

"it gave him some focus," the older Chen brother continues. "He really became a lot more concentrated and hard-working because he knew it would be a lot harder to get good grades. So he got better grades."

Richard Chen is legally blind himself, although he has limited sight. He and Jack don't discuss their blindness, he says, beyond giving each other tips for how to get around.

"We don't talk about it--it's there," he says.

Christianity became more of a focus for Chen after he became blind, and he says it allowed him to forgive his doctors.

"In a lot of ways I wish I wasn't missing a lot to things. But [being blind] is a part of me," he says. "Sometimes I wish it wasn't there, but if it wasn't there, it wouldn't be me."

Now, Chen is leading the life of a fairly typical student--taking four classes, feeling guilty about not taking five, and exploring new interests.

"Music's really a big thing for me," he says. "I really like people who are musically talented." Chen and his two roommates own electric guitars, violins and a keyboard, among other instruments. The sophomore says he enjoys playing everything from worship to a capella and club music, partly because his friends at home are DJs.

Chen is learning how to play the guitar on his own, without a teacher. While the beginning of the semester doesn't leave much time for music, he says, he experimented for three or four hours every day during intersession.

"Basically, I hear something, listen carefully, and pick out the chords, and then go back to my room and just figure them out," he says. "One of the things I hope for in the future is to start composing some stuff," he adds.

Chen also has an extensive stuffed animal collection, through he only brought six to school. The in-house residents include four Winnie-the Poohs and the two Gund bears.