Ben Sherwin, Valedictorian
Where are you going to college and what are you majoring in?
B: We are going to UF and I’m majoring in biomedical engineering and math.
What are you most excited for about going to college?
B: I’m most excited about the academic rigor of the university and being able to participate in a lot of clubs and undergraduate research opportunities.
When you realized you’d be top two in your class, how did you react?
B: It wasn’t really a goal or a plan of ours to do that. I think it just happened because we were following our passions and each of our classes, we just registered for classes that were interesting.
How did you manage your time to
balance all your work and succeed like you did?
B: Time management is extremely important. Making a schedule and planning out your week and day really helps. And you have to make time and room for everything that you want to do.
What’s one thing you wish you knew about high school in advance?
B: I would say I guess it’s important to know that it’s not as hard socially, it’s a big jump from middle school to high school but the transition isn’t as hard as you think it will be. You get used to it very quickly.
What was your favorite moment of high school?
B: I think the best part of high school is being able to make a lot of new friends that we would never would have had otherwise. It’s building relationships with people.
What was the most challenging thing about having COVID-19 disrupt your senior year?
B: It’s obviously had an impact on all of the senior events, we are either moving them online or not having them at all, which is a lot different than most years. But it’s kind of nice to have so much time to do whatever you want and just to keep learning, which is so important.
What’s the best thing you learned from a teacher or mentor?
B: You should just follow your interests and passions, and that will lead you always in the right direction. Just be persistent and be determined toward your passions.
What do you hope to do in life after college?
B: I’m thinking about possibly being an MDPHD where I become a physician scientist.
What’s one message you’d like to share with your fellow graduates?
B: Even though we are in these rough times, we will eventually get through this and life will return back to normal. Once we do that, I think it’s important to follow your passions and let your curiosity drive you.
Nick Sherwin, Salutatorian
Where are you going to college and what are you majoring in?
N: Like my brother, I’m also going to the University of Florida and I’m majoring in biomedical engineering.
What are you most excited for about going to college?
N: Probably being in a new environment and meeting new people.
When you realized you’d be top two in your class, how did you react?
N: I would say that we were pretty excited but it wasn’t too much of a big deal for us. We were happy we were rewarded with that honor, but it wasn’t ever on our radar.
How did you manage your time to
balance all your work and succeed like you did?
N: Mostly time management and trying to stay on top of everything and prioritize certain things that are important.
What’s one thing you wish you knew about high school in advance?
N: That it’s going to be a lot more work than you think it is.
What was your favorite moment of high school?
N: Some of the internships I did over the summer and some of the clubs we participated in, the memories we had at competitions and all the fun stuff we did outside of school.
What was the most challenging thing about having COVID-19 disrupt your senior year?
N: It’s presented a lot of challenges with having graduation and all of those things canceled, but it’s also presented a lot of free time to kind of explore. I think even though it’s not what we were looking for it’s still something that you can take advantage of with this free time.
What’s the best thing you learned from a teacher or mentor?
N: I would say to be persistent and goal driven and to try to take things small steps at a time to reach a bigger goal.
What do you hope to do in life after college?
N: I’m thinking about going pre-medicine in college and hopefully becoming a member of the medical field one day.
What’s one message you’d like to share with your fellow graduates?