High School Valedictorian Prepares for Harvard

Matt Jacobson is just like many other young man preparing for graduation. He loves his pro sports teams, primarily the Mets and Devils, he plays hockey for Harrison's varsity team and he spends an unhealthy amount of time on Facebook.

This year Jacobson has another title to add to his resume, valedictorian of Harrison High School's class of 2010. Jacobson himself is very proud of receiving the title.

"It's a real honor," said Jacobson. "There are so many smart people in my graduating class."

Jacobson is right in saying that, he has several brilliant classmates. This year the top ten graduating seniors in Harrison all had a grade-point average of 99 percent or better and, as valedictorian, Jacobson tops the list.

Since his sophomore year, students and teachers in the district have been talking about Jacobson as one of the brightest students in his grade. But being the modest individual that he is, Jacobson never paid much attention to what other people were saying and just kept working hard toward his goals.

Jacobson is always willing to put the extra effort into his school work, and he has had the desire to work hard academically for as long as he can remember.

"I've always had the internal motivation to work hard in school," said Jacobson. "I've been fortunate enough to have things work out in an academic sense."

But before his four years are over at Harrison High School, and he is ready to join the student body of Harvard University, Jacobson has one last assignment left for Harrison - write his graduation speech.

"I haven't even started it yet, but I have mixed feelings toward the speech as a whole," Jacobson said. "I am nervous because I have to speak in front of such a large group of people, but excited because I feel that I have some important and meaningful thoughts to share."

As he enters Harvard, Jacobson will be studying applied sciences, with a focus on computer science. The high school senior says he is not worried about planning out his entire college career just yet, instead he is looking at his new challenge openly and ready to savor every moment of it.

"I'm not exactly sure what my goals are right now," said Jacobson. "I just know that I plan on going to college with an open mind and seeing what comes up."

Like any high school senior, Jacobson also has no idea what he wants to do for a career. But he is confident that he will learn the skills he needs in college.

"I don't really know what I want to do right now," said Jacobson. "I just hope that I'm fortunate enough to be doing something that will make me happy and allow me to positively contribute to society."

Jacobson has been humble throughout the process. He never bragged about his accomplishments academic or otherwise and he has maintained a level head as he looks forward to the challenges in front of him.

Jacobson's work ethic, paired with his modesty, made him a great role model for his classmates as well as future generations of high school students in town.

We look forward to hearing from him during graduation on Friday, and hope he finds time this week to get started on his speech. Given his track record, it shouldn't be much of a problem.