Top NHS Students Pushed Each Other To Excel

By Eliza Hallabeck

After being named as the 2011 Newtown High School valedictorian and salutatorian respectively, Drew Robinson and Brian Reed looked back on their school careers with The Newtown Bee this week.

“I was really excited, because I had known the week before that Brian and I were the top two in the class,” said Drew, the graduating class’s valedictorian.

Both Drew and Brian learned at the Board of Education’s meeting on Tuesday, May 17, which was the valedictorian and which was the salutatorian.

“This is not about one grade or one course,” said Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais at the meeting, standing before the Board of Education and members of the audience with Brian and Drew. “This is about four-years-plus of doing the best academically of anybody at Newtown High School.”

With roughly two weeks before graduation, both Brian and Drew said they had always pushed each other to excel in courses.

“In high school we kind of have had a healthy competition,” said Drew.

Brian said the pair first met as fourth grade students who came together from different elementary schools to participate in the district’s Discovery program. While attending Reed Intermediate School, according to Drew, the two students got to know each other much more. By seventh and eighth grade they were competing together on school challenges, such as the Rube Goldberg Contest, a robot building competition. In eighth grade Brian and Drew created a scarecrow together for the annual Newtown Middle School Scarecrow Contest.

“We’ve always pushed each other, ever since middle school,” Drew said.

Teachers at Newtown High School encouraged the collaborative competition, according to Brian. In other high schools Brian said students may be more cut-throat, but Brian and Drew were members of a group of friends who all pushed themselves and each other.

Drew plans to attend Columbia University in the fall to study biomedical engineering, and Brian plans to attend Princeton University’s engineering school to focus his studies on mechanical and aerospace engineering. Brian said he also plans to take advantage of other schools through Princeton.

Both students thanked their families for continued support throughout their academic careers. Teachers have also been a source of support for Brian and Drew. Brian said NHS science teacher Susan McConnell and guidance counselor Deidre Croce were sources of support for him during his high school career. Brian also named his guidance counselor Jeff Tolson as someone who provided him with assistance, along with Peg Ragaini and Kitty Latowicki in the school’s Career Center, and the staff in the high school’s Tutoring Center.

Brian said he was lucky to have fantastic teachers while at NHS.

“They have helped shape what I want to do later on in life,” said Brian.

Both Drew and Brian have been busy throughout high school playing on sports teams and participating in other school organizations, including the National Honor Society. Both students also helped tutor their peers during their high school careers. Drew was also involved in Fusion, a junior and freshman mentoring program. Brian also worked with Families United in Newtown (FUN) organizer Linda Jones to coordinate high school volunteers for child support during FUN meetings for parents.

Being together for most of their classes in the later years of high school was a help, Drew said, because the students could push each other to do better.

For future students, Drew said the best advice is to get to know the teachers, because then they can provide the student with the most personal help possible.

“Do your best at everything, because it pays off in the end, and that doesn’t have to be academic,” said Drew.