Valedictorian to Attend UMASS Amherst's Honors College

The Class of 2021 will undoubtedly be remembered as the “COVID Class.” This school year has been marred by frustrations, fears, and a longing for normalcy since before it even began. It is truly a testament to the strength of the DHS Class of 2021 that we were able to make it through, and nowhere else is this strength better exemplified than in this year’s valedictorian, Bryan McDonough.

Bryan will be advancing to UMASS Amherst this fall, where he will be entering the Commonwealth Honors College, a prestigious and challenging institution which enables students to make new connections and further their skills and ambitions. Though currently undecided as to his major in college, Bryan says he will likely end up in some kind of business major.

This mirrors Bryan’s future career. “Business is probably where I’ll end up--some sort of business, whether it’s actually running a business or managing a business… and it can really be any business, that’s the thing: I’d work in logistics, I’d work pretty much anywhere,” he says. However, Bryan also has an interest in politics, though he says “I’m not an extrovert… I wouldn’t like to campaign, so I’d rather not be a politician, but I would certainly consider being involved in politics in some shape or form.”

If Bryan’s high school years are any indication, he will strongly apply himself to whatever career path he ends up choosing. At DHS, Bryan took a total of ten AP classes, including five during his senior year. He has won numerous awards, including the Highest Achievement Award for Social Studies and Science, the Special Recognition Award for English, the Outstanding Senior in French Award, the US Marine Corps Scholastic Excellence Award, the Harvard Book Award, as well as multiple awards for Fine Arts. But Bryan’s impressive portfolio is not limited to academics. Bryan is a varsity soccer athlete, and has an incredible commitment to exercise and physical activity.

Bryan tells of a meticulous schedule of swimming that he undertook during high school, in which, for three days each school week, he would wake at the early hour of 4:45 AM and travel to the Westwood Pool, and swim for forty-five minutes straight, and return home by 6:25 AM to get ready for school. Bryan’s regiment took a hit during the pandemic, though is slowly returning to normal. “It’s funny, I haven’t swam since the pandemic began. I swam last Wednesday, I swam today. And so we’re slowly getting back into it but it’s been a while,” he says.

Exercise continues to be immensely important to Bryan. “It’s a reflection of how I think, in many ways,” he says. “It’s like, ‘how can I beat what I did yesterday? How can I improve?’ It helps me have that mentality of always trying to be better… and that’s always what I aspire to… it’s also about finding those limits and also trying to push them harder. And so in many ways it’s the same sort of things that I do with the rest of my life: trying to push the limits that I have and to make myself the best version of myself I can be, and to be happy with who I am.”

The repertoire of activities does not end with exercise and academics either. Bryan has maintained an involvement in music through the Dedham Middle School and Dedham High School bands, in which he has played the flute. He also maintained a brief stint with the Marching and Jazz Bands during sophomore year of high school, when he was unable to take Band class. But the activity Bryan seems most passionate about is Future Problem Solvers, a “program that organizes academic competitions in which students apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to hypothetical future situations.”

This forward thinking extends to Bryan’s plans in college. “The fundamental goal for me in college that I didn’t have now is to prepare myself and form a foundation of myself for a career. That’s really the fundamental change for me: that the focus moves away from getting good grades, which will still be important to me, but it’s something I’m more willing to sacrifice if I see obvious gains or an obvious tradeoff that would prepare me to be better prepared for a career,” he says. Additionally, Bryan plans to continue his seven year study of the French language, hoping to achieve fluency.

Bryan speaks fondly of his time in the Dedham Public Schools. He cites Mr. Medeiros’ AP US History course as the most memorable one, in which “it was always fun and interesting to learn about these perspectives and these people, and how we got to where we are today as a country, and as a people.” His numerous positive experiences in history classes has led Bryan to favor the subject the most out of course line-up offered.

However, Bryan spoke of an amusing anecdote from freshman year biology, with Mr. Springer. “At the beginning of freshman year, on the first day of school, Mr. Springer said ‘you have complete control over your grade in this class,’ so I took that as a challenge and said ‘alright. I am going to do everything in my power to get a one hundred percent in every term of this year.’ And that’s what I did. It was brutal, it was a lot of work. But I did succeed, I did prove him right. And as much as it was really hard and really draining, it was also really fun. It’s like swimming in that you don’t look forward to it at the beginning, but every time you finish you feel phenomenal.”

Memories like this were certainly difficult to make during this school year, but Bryan was not discouraged. He did hybrid learning from when it first opened to when the school opened up completely. He speaks fondly of the new friendships he made this year, and how he was able to get to know other students he normally never would have. Bryan has maintained a remarkably positive outlook throughout the pandemic, saying that “as much as things are bad, there’s always an upside. And it’s about finding the upside, and enjoying that upside when you can.”

Bryan’s worldview and success, he says, have been shaped by his family. “They always encouraged me to explore and try and discover the world around me. And as much as part of it came naturally to me, it was a lot of them also encouraging that instinct to develop and come to where it is today.” Bryan also speaks positively about the relationship with his brother Michael, who is currently a sophomore at DHS.

Bryan had the following to say to the outgoing 2021 class: “this has been a great journey. It’s been a long journey, it’s been a hard journey, but it’s been great. It’s also been great to go along with everyone, everyone in the class as a whole. It’s been fun, it’s been a great journey, and I wish everyone the best of luck.”

Indeed, the senior class wishes the same to you, Bryan.