HGHS Valedictorian: Live Life To The Fullest

CHAPPAQUA, NY — This year's valedictorians and salutatorians in the Chappaqua school district are an extraordinary group of young people. Patch asked them to answer a few questions about their high school experience and what they look forward to in the future.

Today, meet Eric Doppelt.

1. What will you miss most about high school?

Honestly, I'm going to miss the comfort of high school. Everything about it was so normal and routine—in a good way. Every day, I'd go to the same classes with the same kids who I spent thirteen years with. From Grafflin to Greeley, we all got to know each other and grow up in this comfortable setting. The really beautiful thing about it was the ability to spend so much time with the same group of kids and really get to know each other over the years—see how kids change, grow up, become who they want to be. Next year will be a lot of new, intimidating faces, and large classes just won't have the same intimate, friendly feel that high school did.

2. What are you looking forward to in moving on to college?

Besides the energy of college football and basketball, I'm looking forward to actually focusing my education on topics that interest me. While there will be distribution requirements and all, in college I won't be forced to take specific classes just to graduate. I'll be able to tailor my learning specifically to what I'm interested in—computer science—and explore those subjects instead of general requirements that don't interest me as much.

3. What was your favorite high school class?

"Walking and Meditation" was my favorite high school class. There's something really awesome about having a built in twenty minute break in your schedule on any given day where you can vent about your stress and then take a nap.

4. What clubs or extra-curricular activities were you involved in?

I wrote for Greeley's sports magazine The Quake which was a great experience because it exposed me to sports journalism and allowed me to interact with all the school's incredible athletes. Being clumsy and slow, I always knew that playing varsity sports wasn't an option for me, so it was nice to find out that I could still stay involved in Greeley's sports. I also created a website, team-jane.com, to raise money for pancreatic cancer patients ($200K to date).

5. What advice would you give to underclassmen?

Don't wait for senior year to go all out with spirit, get Rocky's at 1:00 AM, or go to a concert on a school night. The biggest myth about high school is that senior year is the year to live life to the fullest. I really wish I could go back to day one as a freshman and embrace that motto early on.

6. Any teachers/staff who stood out throughout your journey?

I'll never forget an English teacher I had in my Junior year named Mr. Valentin. He'd start every class with minutes of choice reading, and our homework was to bring a book that we'd want to read each class. Many times I would stay after school to talk to him and find a new book for the next week or two. Having those fifteen minutes really opened my eyes to a variety of new genres I never really thought I'denjoy—graphic novels like March by John Lewis and memoirs like When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. More importantly, it rekindled my love for reading, which was somewhat extinguished by years of literary analyses and essays. It's always good to be able to sit down and read a book without any strings attached. I'm fortunate to have been retaught that by Mr. Valentin.

7. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Honestly, no clue. I hope my life doesn't change too much though. As long as I have my family and some good friends, I'm sure things will work out.

8. Tell us a fun fact about you.

I tore my ACL, meniscus, and MCL in front of the entire school playing funball this year—most likely the stupidest injury suffered at a Greeley sporting event in the school's history.