Q&A With Horace Greeley Valedictorian Matt Townsend

Horace Greeley High School Valedictorian Matt Townsend and his senior class peers graduate this weekend. In finishing high school, Townsend is topping off a slew of athletic and academic achievements. Townsend, who was on the varsity boys basketball team, holds for most career points scored. His honors include having won the of $10,000, at this year's Greeley Sports Boosters awards and an award for . He will attend Yale University this coming school year. Below is our written Q&A exchange:

Patch: What were your favorite things about being a student at Greeley?

Townsend: One of my favorite things about being a student at Greeley was the amazing educational opportunities I found there. I was lucky to have some amazing teachers—particularly my AP Chemistry teacher, Dr. Prignano, and my AP BC Calculus teacher, Mr. Frengs—who taught me so much and made everyone in their classes genuinely interested in learning more. This year, another great thing at Greeley was all of the incredible senior year events: Beach Day, the Senior Musical production of “The Wedding Singer”, and Color Wars (a competition between seniors who went to the three different elementary schools in the district). Everyone participated and made all of these events spirited and so much fun.

Patch: What are you going to miss the most about high school?

Townsend: I’m definitely going to miss all the people the most: my teachers, coaches, and especially the classmates with whom I’ve spent the past four years bonding and getting to know. The end of the year has definitely been a bittersweet time because I’m really excited for college, but at the same time it’s going to be really sad for everyone to leave and go their separate ways.

Patch: Who were some of your strongest influences as a student?

Townsend: My older brother, Ben, was probably my biggest influence. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and growing up, the competitive part of me was always motivated to follow in his footsteps but also define myself by achieving at a high level. My high school basketball coach, Dave Fernandes, was another really big influence on me. He taught me to always apply 100% effort to whatever I did, and I tried to take that philosophy to heart.

Patch: How were you able to balance your academic and athletic priorities, given your achievements in both?

Townsend: It was definitely hard at certain points to balance athletics and academics—I remember having to study for AP tests in between games at some spring basketball tournaments, for example—but I really think each helped me achieve in the other. I had to work hard, be organized and stay focused to do well in each, and applying those same lessons to the other helped me do well in that as well.

Patch: What are your plans for next year when you attend Yale?

Townsend: I’m really excited about next year at Yale. Athletically, I’m planning on playing basketball for their team. Academically, I’m really interested in the sciences, so I’m considering pursuing a pre-med path, but I also want to open myself to a lot of different courses and find out what I really am interested in there.