Xander Roy is on his way to changing the world
Senior Xander Roy will be attending Michigan State University, studying abroad in Japan, and majoring in environmental engineering. With a bright future ahead of him, Xander explains his ambitions.
“I've always loved learning about the environment and ways to help it and I've talked to a few people that said environmental engineering was the way to go. I wanted to follow in my mom’s footsteps and go to college as well to make her proud, I also wanted to couple that dream with something I enjoy doing and environmental engineering was the best option for me.”
After receiving a college education, Xander says he sees himself “working as an environmental engineer for a large company, hoping to create new ways to help sustain and save the environment from pollution.”
Now, before Xander travels across the world, he reflects on his time in the little town he calls home. Throughout his time at Aurora High School, Xander involved himself in the swimming team--a program that has found quite a bit of success in recent years. Naturally, some of Xander’s favorite memories came from this.
“My favorite memory of high school would have to be winning the swimming suburban league championship my sophomore year. That was one of the greatest years in my life, I finally started to enjoy swimming and I was able to learn more about myself and develop more as a swimmer and a person because of the incredible people around me.”
Outside of the pool, Xander created more than just memories; he built relationships with people in the community, most notably, Mr. Boe. He is the ASL teacher at Aurora. Beyond just teaching Xander a new language, Xander shares that Mr. Boe “was always available to help me when I needed it and would work with my schedule for swimming to find ways for me to get my work done. His attitude changed me and made me see the world in a brighter way because he would always ask us about our day and tell us about his day with a smile on his face which was always a welcome sight. Even though I'm no longer in his class this year, he still talks to me and helps me in any way he can like with my letter of recommendation and answering questions for MSU so I can go study abroad.”
Before Xander goes off to save the world, he would like to give one last quote (and a beautiful one at that).
“It may always be tough to keep your head up, but strain your eyes to look into your bright and beautiful future.”
With a big heart and a big brain, Xander will undoubtedly make his mark on the world. Good luck to you, Xander!
Written by Ava McGovern