Salutatorian to Study Mechanical Engineering at Northeastern

This year’s salutatorian, Jack Fonseca, will be attending Northeastern University in the fall. He will be majoring in mechanical engineering within their honors program.

Upon receiving the news that he’d been named the 2021 salutatorian, Jack says it was a “surprising shock.” He’s grateful to receive the honor, and while it was a surprise to him, he feels it was a “nice surprise for the years of hard work it took.”

During his time at DHS, Jack participated in Student Council, Student Government, as well as being a member of the National Honors Society. The majority of his time was spent working with the DHS Performing Arts Company, having been a stage manager since sophomore year. It was during his time spent with the performing arts company that one of Jack’s best memories of DHS occurred. He was stage manager for DHS' production of Guys and Dolls. In his own words, “That show was a blast to put on and I made some lasting friendships with some pretty rad people. I learned a ton of useful leadership and technical skills from the show, so it holds a special place in my heart.”

One of the most defining challenges of the year was the adjustment to remote learning as a result of the COVID pandemic. Understandably, Jack was disappointed that the majority of his final year was spent online, but he adjusted well to the new platform. Despite the challenges he faced, personally, Jack recognized how online school also affected educators: “The teachers deserve so much recognition for the effort and dedication it took to change their lessons to virtual.”

The pandemic also promoted a space for growth over the past year and a half. While working as a cashier during the pandemic, directly faced with struggling individuals, Jack came to identify how important caring for others is during this time. He says, “While the pandemic brought many new challenges to the world, it was the acts of kindness that stood out. Seeing such acts of generosity in a time of such despair was uplifting, and it showed me how important it is to be nice and help others.”

According to Jack, a lot of his success as a student is owed to teachers. One of his keys to success was to always reach out to teachers when something got challenging, and he identifies teachers such as Ms. Hill, Ms. Holloran, and Mr. Nadeau as some of his biggest inspirations. “Ms. Holloran's dedication to her students and her job is amazing in its own right. Ms. Hill's knowledge of the topics she teaches and support of her students is also pretty radical. Mr. Nadeau's contribution to the community through the many programs he has led is monumental.” As an aspiring engineer, Jack also finds Elon Musk to be an inspiration, due to his innovations in aerospace and electrical engineering.

As a final send off, Jack would like to once again appreciate the educators at DHS: “I would just like to thank all of the teachers that have helped me get to this point. Without the help of them, I would not have been able to get this achievement.”