By KAREN JAEN
Long, restless nights filled with numerous assignments were the challenge senior Brendan Hall had to overcome to become a valedictorian.
“[Becoming a valedictorian] reaffirms the countless hours and sleepless nights I spent maintaining my grades and it stands as a defining accomplishment of my high school career,” Hall said.
Throughout high school, Hall spent his time playing three years on varsity volleyball for three years and three years on the Hi-Lights newspaper Staff.
“Newspaper made me feel like I wasn’t being lazy. I was busy and most of my core friends were in the class,’” Hall said.
Hall found inspiration to become valedictorian the summer before his freshman year. His father inspired him to take the challenge of trying to achieve perfect grades throughout high school.
“He told me how I couldn’t do it, and that there were be a lot of kids trying to achieve the same goal. So I had to prove him wrong,” Hall said.
Vicky Nicoll’s Advanced Placement Language and Composition class was Hall’s favorite class throughout high school and the class he felt to be most influential. Nicoll became Hall’s role model after his junior year.
“[AP Language] challenged me like no other class really could, and it made me a much better writer. [My favorite teacher] Vicky Nicoll, embodies everything you want to be both academically and as a person,” Hall said.
Hall will be attending the University of Central Florida in the fall to study nuclear physics. After he finishes his degree, he plans to attend Vanderbilt University for graduate school and receive his doctorate. His ultimate goal is to follow research on nuclear physics and become a professor at a college or university.
“Don’t succumb to the mindless temptation of high school. When you’re working at a minimum wage job in the future and looking back, you have no one to blame but yourself,” Hall said.
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