Van Fossen will attend the University of Florida in the fall.
Where are you going to college and what will your major be?
University of Florida, mechanical engineering.
What about college are you most excited for?
Not being at home.
When did you first realize you were going to be in the top two of your class? How did you react?
I’ve been number one since, I think, the end of sophomore year. So I was stressing about it a little bit because I thought he (Zane Richardson) was going to beat me because he was taking a lot more classes than me over the last few years. But I was pretty happy.
What kind of work did you put in to get to this point?
I took HCC (classes) before I even came into high school and I did STEM in middle school, so I had a few classes going into it.
What advice would you give students who want to follow in your footsteps and be their school’s next valedictorian or salutatorian?
Community college. Take as much dual enrollment as you can.
What’s something you wish you knew about high school ahead of time?
It’s not like movies. At all. It’s more work than middle school and I didn’t think it was gonna be.
What was your favorite moment of high school?
That’s a tough one…just hanging out in the lunchroom.
How are you going to spend this summer?
Just hanging out. Most of my friends are going to college over the summer so I’ll probably be back and forth to UCF with them.
What’s the best thing one of your teachers has taught you while in high school?
Grades aren’t everything. It’s more important to be able to have a conversation with someone than it is to be able to get an A in a class. I learned that from Mr. Meredith.
What do you hope to do in life after college?
I want to make something. I want to make a company. I want to make something new, whatever that ends up being.
