Freeport High School graduates excel

Merit News is a university service that notifies communities when students from Freeport are doing well. Twenty-three Freeport residents in college or grad school have earned high honors this past semester. Three are profiled here, in their own words, with more profiles to come.

Kenneth Gray, Jr., Dean’s List, SUNY Delhi, 3.5 GPA required

I’m in my senior year at SUNY Delhi, majoring in architectural design and building. I chose SUNY DELHI because it has a great hands-on architecture program that lets students develop hand drafting skills, digital rendering skills and model-making skills. It also has a 24-hour studio available for architecture students. Construction management field is joined with our program as well.

The pandemic affected the amount of classes I had in person. I had four classes in total and only came in person for my architectural design studio plus a lab for another class. The rest of the classes were either asynchronous or synchronous online.

I was well prepared for my major. At Freeport High School there were drafting classes that I took which had hand drafting, model making, and AutoCAD assignments.

I have lived in Freeport since I was born (20 years) with my mom and dad, my older sister, and my twin sister.

Carolina Flores-Iglesias, President’s Honors List, New York Institute of Technology, 3.7 GPA required and at least 12 credits earned 

I am currently in my second year as an architecture student, in the fully accredited five-year B.Arch program. I chose New York Tech for its studio-based and interactive architecture program. It has an amazing updated fabrication lab and licensed architects as professors.

During the pandemic I have mostly attended college virtually through Zoom. I got to go on campus once a week in my first semester, since architecture is a very hands-on major. Mostly we were all at home making our architectural models and doing our presentations virtually. I had to go to Home Depot to buy material as well as a saw. It was actually a lot of fun but a lot of work. Hopefully, this new school year, I get to go on campus more and experience more things.

Freeport Public Schools have always had many opportunities for students and I've always made sure to take advantage of them. They had project challenges at Bayview Avenue School that I really enjoyed when I went there. They had accelerated math at Atkinson School. I've always had a love for math and really liked that class. There were also many honors classes at Dodd Middle School and advanced placement college courses at the high school. I was able to get many college credits transferred to New YorkTech from Freeport High School.

I have lived in Freeport my whole life and really enjoy it. I'm very family oriented and appreciate my parents very much. I thank them every day for everything they have given me,

Jaden Richards, Dean’s List, University of Hartford, 3,25 GPA required

I am a third-year biology student, currently on a pre-pharmacy track. I came to the University of Hartford because they provided me with a feasible gateway to reaching my goals in the future. The university made me feel like I belonged. Also, knowing that I came from a diverse town, I wanted a school that appreciated those values, and with the smaller classroom sizes I was hopeful to make strong relationships with my professors and friends.

The pandemic made it harder to be productive with my classes -- hybrid schedules, less in-person interactions with my professors, and having to cut down on study time with friends. Some of the personal qualities that I have utilized to be placed on the Dean’s List are self-motivation, determination, good study habits and a great support system.

Freeport helped me prepare for college in many ways. My football and lacrosse coaches encouraged me to never give up, instilled mental toughness and pushed me to my limits. At Freeport High School, my science research teacher, Mr. Irwin, reinforced my love for the sciences and the medical field.

I’ve lived in Freeport for my whole life. I am the oldest brother of three. My parents have always supported my goals.