As the class of 2017 begins to wrap up their final days, I got a chance to talk to this year’s Valedictorian and Salutatorian for this year’s graduating class. This year’s Valedictorian is Peter Jankowski.  Jankowski is graduating with high honors with a 4.73 gpa. The Newbury resident is going to be attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute, (WPI). Jankowski is an undecided major but he hopes to focus computer and technological engineering.

  When asked what he wants to do with his major he says, “I would like to keep my options open in case I find something that is more interesting to me. I’d like to see as many options as possible before I make a final decision. That being said, whatever I decide to major in will almost certainly be STEM based.”  Jankowski seems to take a great in engineering and says that all though he is an undecided major, he knows what is interests are and his career path will most likely align with that. I asked him where he’d hope to see himself in ten years to which he says, “Honestly I have not given this much thought. I want to end up at a job that is meaningful, and engaging. I do not have any more specific of an idea than that, since the details are not really important otherwise.”

      Rowley resident Jake Daniels will be graduating as a Salutadictorian, with a 4.63 gpa. Daniels is a member of the varsity hockey team and varsity lacrosse, playing all four years of high school. He will be attending Purdue University next year, majoring in Aeronautical Engineering. When asked why he chose his major he says,  “Since I was little, I have always been interested in the space program and rocket launches and figured that I would do that later in life.” Daniels says he one day hopes to be working for an engineering firm in the space industry, or possibly doing research.

     I asked both of them what they would say to their freshman year self. Daniels says, “Don’t take school more seriously than you need to and don’t procrastinate.” And on a similar note Jankowski says, “To loosen up and to take life as it comes. A bit of nervousness is fine, but worrying over every little thing like I used to is not.”