Salutatorian Set to Pursue Medical Career

Barnegat High School's Class of 2011 salutatorian Jasmine Faldu will remember her alma mater as a place where people rallied around each other.

The high school’s relatively small size contributes to a strong sense of community among teachers and peers, she said.

“The teacher-student relationship is good,” she said. “It’s a more friendly environment,” including among the highest-performing students – no cutthroat competition for the spots at the top of the class.

“Everyone in the top 10 were all my friends,” she said. “We’re all proud of each other.”

Faldu had wide-ranging interests in high school. She was a National Honors Society student, a founding member of the school’s Optimists’ Club, which she later led as president, and captain of the volleyball team for three of the four years she was on it.

Her passion lay in science though, and she dreamed of a medical career.

“I always wanted to be a doctor,” she said, “I just never knew what kind.” She comes from a family packed with doctors – as well as engineers – but none were dentists, a specialty she found interesting. Working in an orthodontist’s office helped her settle her determination to enter the field, said Faldu.

“I really like it, and I never changed my mind,” she said.

In the fall, she enters the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, studying biomedical engineering as a member of the school’s honor program.

She said she’ll be sad to leave the school that's become a close-knit community in her time there.

“I’m going to miss that relationship you build with your teachers,” she said, and her principal, who happens to be her best friend’s dad. “I’m going to miss the whole atmosphere of walking into school every day knowing I was in a good place.”

But there’s a lot to be excited about, too.

“I feel like you can only accomplish so much in one place,” Faldu said. “It’s time to turn a new leaf and go on to NJIT, and let someone else at Barnegat High School take the reins.”