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Student wrestles with becoming engineer
By KAREN JAEN
Becoming valedictorian was a sort of shock to senior Lee Hagood-James although he maintained consistent grades throughout high school.
“I thought of the chance of [becoming valedictorian], but I did not plan on it happening. It seemed impossible,” Hagood-James said.
While taking rigorous classes throughout high school, Hagood-James also took up wrestling freshman year, which became his main extracurricular focus. As the years progressed, he earned the title of Most Valuable Player and captain for three consecutive years.
“[I liked wrestling because] I didn’t start too good. I liked my progression. All the pressure was on me and I could prove my ability. It became something I was good at,” Hagood-James said.
Keeping up with wrestling season made Hagood-James wake by 3 a.m. to keep up with training and the homework he had during wrestling season.
Despite homework challenges, Hagood-James states that his favorite high school teacher is Mike Undieme who teaches physics. He claims AP Physics was the class that drove him to pursue engineering.
“Physics [is my favorite subject] because I do well in it and it’s logical to me; it is easy to understand,” Hagood-James said.
Hagood-James plans on attending Georgia Institute of Technology in the fall and will major in mechanical engineering.
“[I chose] Georgia Tech because it is the second best engineering school in the country, next to Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I just looked at the list of top ranking schools and MIT was first, but I’m currently wait-listed, so I chose the second best,” Hagood-James said.
In 10 years, Hagood-James aspires to be working at Lockheed Martin as an engineer and hopefully be in the works of starting his own engineering lab.