Written by Maxwell James Hedayati / Photo: Peter DaSilva, Special To The Chronicle

To representatives of the College Board,

Let me start off by introducing myself, and put a person behind the email address. My name is Maxwell Hedayati, and I am a student at Maria Carrillo high school in Santa Rosa California. I have an immense passion for science and medicine and I am aspiring to one day become a physician. I love playing and watching basketball and although I am an avid Golden State Warriors fan, I assure you that I am not a bandwagoner being that Oakland is only an hour south of my home town. I don’t say this to brag, to impress, or to prove my ambition, but I say it to help you understand me as a person, and not as a sum of words on a computer screen.

That being said, I would like to bring to your attention my predicament, and the predicament of thousands of ambitious, and capable students across Sonoma County. We have been heavily effected by the fires in our area: two schools have burned to the ground, and the hill above ours is now nothing more than a heaping pile of charcoal. Many teachers and students (like myself) have had their homes reduced to rubble comparable to the scorched ruins of Persepolis. My point being that due to this devastating tragedy our school has been closed since October ninth and will remain closed until the twenty seventh which has forced AP students and teachers into an uncomfortable super speed trying to make up for the lost time. This issue, while inconvenient, is not as irreversible as the inability to take the PSAT. My school has reached out to you, the college board, and appealed on behalf of us students for you to extend the deadline of the PSAT.

You rejected us like Kevin Durant rejected Jrue Holiday twice with one shoe. I was extremely disappointed, shocked, and appalled by your inflexibility towards the victims of this horrible event. As I’m sure you are aware, the PSAT is a vital tool needed to study for the all mighty SAT. For you to deny this opportunity to newly homeless people who have just undergone a traumatic event is an atrocity. I strongly urge you to reconsider your unfortunate decision because I assure you that the impact is greater than you think. I understand that it is easy to write the two most disappointing letters in the English language in an email, but hopefully this reconsideration will persuade you to do the right thing and provide this invaluable opportunity to the students of Santa Rosa California’s public schools.