Q: How does it feel to be top of the class?
Colin Slavin: “It’s extremely gratifying to be named valedictorian because this is something that I’ve had my eyes set on since the first day of freshman year and for it to actually come to fruition is just crazy.”
Lucinda Felix: “It honestly feels super cool. I can’t really put my feelings into words because I am still very surprised. The best part of it all is feeling like all the late nights and study sessions have paid off. I definitely cried a little bit when last year’s salutatorian, Austin Roberts, sent me a message congratulating me because it was a little bit like passing the baton, which was really insane.”
Q: Did you ever imagine that you would be in this spot?
Slavin: “I knew that I was in contention for it. I was really hoping I’d come out on top, but once Mr. Ogren told me I actually couldn’t believe it.”
Felix: “It’s very surreal. I had a million ideas of who the salutatorian could be, but I never really thought it would be me. The class of 2022 is full of brilliant, diverse minds and I honestly feel like there are so many people who deserve to be salutatorian as well. When I was called down for Mr. Ogren to tell me the news, I was practically losing my mind because I thought I was in huge trouble. I saw Colin entering his office and I was like, ‘That’s so weird…what did he do to be here?’ and then I was like, ‘Ohhhh…wait what?’”
Q: What was the favorite class you took?
Slavin: “My favorite classes at Woodland have definitely been AP Biology and both of my physics classes, although all of my teachers and classes have been phenomenal.”
Felix: “My favorite class ever was AP Psychology, which I took sophomore year with Ms. Olivere. While it was the class that convinced me to not pursue psychology as a career, it was really interesting to learn about why people think certain ways. I totally think it’s going to be helpful in whatever I choose to pursue in the future.”
Q: What was the most challenging class?
Slavin: “The most challenging class is surely AP Physics, but it is by far the most rewarding and enriching class because the content is so amazing.”
Felix: “Hands down physics. Even though I struggled so much with this class last year, I’m so thankful I took it because I had never been challenged so much before. It taught me a lot about resilience and working insanely hard to achieve a certain goal which, in my case, was getting an overall 90 by the end of the year so I could skip the final.”
Q: What leadership roles did you take on in the community?
Slavin: “I’m the captain of the cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams, the president of Math Honor Society, and a captain of Quiz Bowl and Math Team.”
Felix: “As of this year, I am DECA’s social media manager, SNHS’s vice president, WLHS’s president, math team’s vice president, and a lot of other things I can’t remember off the top of my head. I was really involved in my church before Covid [COVID-19], but a lot of things have shut down there since then. My favorite leadership experience was hosting SAT study nights with a bunch of my friends and classmates for a couple of months before SATs last year. It was super cool to see everyone incorporate skills they excelled in to solve problems.”
Q: What is your proudest accomplishment?
Slavin: “My proudest accomplishment was our cross country team winning NVLs this year. It was really awesome to see our guys come together through adversity and succeed.”
Felix: “My proudest accomplishment would probably be being declared salutatorian this year because I honestly had a lot on my plate. I started working two jobs this year which has been really challenging because I had to juggle work, school, extracurriculars, and college applications, so I was really just roaming new territory this year. There were times where I had let my guard down and honestly felt like just giving up on school, but I’m glad I did not let myself ever get too far behind.”
Q: Do you have any ideas about what you will say in your speech?
Slavin: “I’m absolutely clueless of what my speech is going to look like, so any suggestions are welcome.”
Felix: “Absolutely not. I have pondered it tirelessly for the past couple weeks and I just have no clue. I looked at some example speeches online and I hated all of them; I felt like none of them would be able to encompass me or the class of 2022. I will say one thing, though: I don’t want to hit anyone with the cliche ‘Guys, we went through so much with Covid.’ Obviously everyone knows we have kind of been in the trenches for the past two years and it’s super depressing. I want to shed light on the good parts, the experiences that brought us to graduation. I am thinking of paying homage to my family and Portuguese culture, both of which I would not have been able to make it where I am without. That being said, I’m thinking of a central theme of gratitude and reflection.”
Q: What are your plans after graduation?
Slavin: “I’ve applied to 13 schools (Yale, MIT, Johns Hopkins, RPI, Harvard, Dartmouth, Georgetown, UPenn, UConn, Duke, Boston College, and Princeton), but I don’t get any decisions until mid-to-late March and early April. I plan on running wherever I end up going, though.”
Felix: “I have no clue where I will go next year. I applied to about five schools in-state, one in Massachusetts (but it’s a really long shot), and one in Florida which I would definitely be going to, if it were not a thousand miles away. Wherever I go, I plan on pursuing two majors, health sciences/biology and Spanish, and maybe add on a psychology minor if I’m feeling bored at some point. After that, I want to get a master’s degree in physician assistant studies and hopefully work in dermatology once I finish schooling. If somehow this doesn’t work out for me, I’m thinking I might either go into teaching high school Spanish or do some research with pharmacology or immunology, which is one of my newer interests.”
