May / June 2018, Issue 4, Vol. L
Time to celebrate the Class of 2018!
Valedictorian - Miss Erin Smith Plans to attend Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York by Emily Snell
Salutatorian - Mr. Philip Andreoli Plans to attend University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Emily Snell
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2018’s senior class valedictorian (top-ranking student based on academic grade point average) is the talented Erin Smith. Erin is mostly looking forward to the freedom of summer and having no homework. “Relaxation, here I come!” she says. Achieving a high academic standing is no easy task. Smith most likely faced a lot of challenges during her high school trying to manage her time between various activities and school work. Erin is involved in a lot of music-related and performance activities and also involved in groups that help out the school. She stated that one of her biggest struggles was trying to find a balance between all of her school work, music activities, and had a rough time trying to spend time with her family. She is one busy person! She’s been a focused student for most of her high school career. She said that being studious depended on the subject, history definitely was not her strongest subject. “History has always been a struggle for me to pick up, ironically because my dad is a history teacher...” Erin said. Every other subject came easy to her, so she believes she is very lucky! Erin wasn’t very aware of her high class rank until the middle of her sophomore year. She didn’t think much of it during her freshman year. “...I wasn’t truly aware of the possibility until junior year,” says Erin in regards to realizing she had the potential to be the Class of 2018’s valedictorian. The most difficult class Smith took was AP World History. She said that this was the first AP class she ever took. She loved the class and her teacher, Mr. Kerstetter, but it was a tough transition for her. The most valuable class she took was AP Psychology. She said that it’s valuable because it can be applied to almost every moment in life. “Psychology has always been interesting to me. And I was very excited to study it this year,” Erin stated. Erin’s secret to success is to take every extra credit opportunity given to you. “Teachers give less and less of it every year, so take advantage of it!” Erin will be attending Ithaca College in the fall to study Music Education and Vocal Performance. Erin says “Yes, I’m aware
Inside the Pride!
Class of 2017 destinations... ...pages 2 - 3
Senior Class statistics... ...pages 2 - 3 Retiring teachers... ...page 4
that my grades were nearly worthless for this course of study, but the past is the past.” Music has always been in her life, and it’s something that is very important to her, so it’s really no surprise she has taken this direction with her college education. Smith was attracted to Ithaca because she claims it’s a gorgeous campus and there is a lot to do in the college town, including eating some amazing food. Being so heavily involved with Red Land’s music department, Erin learned a lot about herself through participating in marching band, PMEA chorus festivals, and spring musicals. Although she acknowledges how time consuming all of these activities are, she would not change a second of it. Erin will miss her friends, but she is mostly going to miss the teachers here at Red Land. “They all have been so passionate about their subjects and kind to their students. It has inspired me, also, to want to be a future educator,” Erin said. Erin wants to give a shoutout to her 6th period independent study class for sharing Eat n’ Park cookies with her while she answered the Patriot Pride student newspaper interview questions. (We appreciate them, too, since they led to the creation of this article!)
‘19
Graduation is near for our salutatorian, Philip Andreoli. He is ready to spend time with his family and friends, but also looking forward to utilizing what he has learned from Red Land and applying it to his next stage in life. Being a top academic performer is not without its challenges. Philip faced a few hurdles in his high school career, and one of the struggles he had was staying committed to all of his various extracurricular activities and community service projects while also maintaining high marks in school. He had to sacrifice a lot of his time with his friends to stay focused with his studies. Academic achievements never came easy to Andreoli, but as time went on he learned how to study hard. He admits to spending many late nights writing papers and studying. Philip always pushed himself to work hard in school. He didn’t want to worry about his class standings, he mainly wanted to focus on his high school experience. “It was always more important to me to keep my commitments and stay true to myself and others,” said Andreoli. Andreoli’s hardest class was AP Physics. He didn’t know much about calculus or physics, and mastering physics requires you to have background with those two subjects, so he thinks that is the most difficult class he’s taken. Philip thinks that all his classes at Red Land were valuable in some way, but if he were to choose just one it would be that same challenging AP Physics class. He said that Mr. Wagoner did a great job at teaching the math and application part behind physics. “The class bettered my problem solving skills, which can be applied to all aspects of life, but the most valuable lessons I learned were the life lessons I learned through my relationships with all of my teachers.” Philip’s secret to success is to study smarter, not harder. He says to turn off the phone and TV when you’re working on homework or studying; to cut out the unnecessary distractions. Andreoli is going to attend the University of Pittsburgh Honors College for Industrial Engineering. After that, he would like to pursue
getting an MBA. Philip was attracted to this because of the charity he started with his brother, Carmen Andreoli, and good friend Lucas Cunningham. Andreoli said, “[The experience of starting a charitable organization] gave me insight and real life practice at setting up an organization with an operable business framework.” Philip was involved in many activities. One of them being his charity, Video Games Fighting Hunger. He was also involved in jazz band, rocket club, student council, and many other activities. He is going to miss the hospitality and the accomodation of the faculty, and of course all of his friends. He says that he will miss all his friends and teachers, along with the advice they all gave him. Andreoli would like to give a shout out to all the people he interacted with, friends, family, teachers and faculty members. He said this was the easiest and hardest question to answer, the hard part is naming everyone who provided him with support. “I am left with the greatest history teachers, the finest language arts instructors, amazing math and science teachers, and a special interest teacher that always kept me guessing for four years.”
Did you know the Patriot Pride student newspaper can be found online??? That’s right! Visit our page on Issuu.com to see a digital version of each issue, including past editions of the Patriot Pride!
Behind the Pride!
Writers & Editors:
Victoria Lomman, Emily Snell, & Mr. Washburn Layout Designer: Mr. Washburn Faculty Adviser: Mr. Washburn
GO PATRIOTS! d1d
Scan the QR code to go to Patriot Pride’s Issuu website!