HHS Valedictorian Brian Gilbert’s Interesting Journey
Brian Gilbert has enjoyed an interesting journey through the Huntington School District. The Class of 2014’s valedictorian, he’s on his way to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island to study physics in the fall.
Mr. Gilbert attended Jefferson Primary School and Woodhull Intermediate School before departing for the Long Island School for the Gifted. He returned to Huntington High School as a sophomore and has been excelling ever since.
“I remember being very nervous about the transition to the high school, but my teachers and classmates made me feel right at home,” Mr. Gilbert said. The teenager has served as the vice-president of Huntington’s Math Honor Society, Science Honor Society and Mathletes and has been a contributor to the high school student newspaper, The Dispatch.
Mr. Gilbert has captained Huntington’s Science Bowl and Quiz Bowl teams and played viola and violin in music ensembles, including the pit and chamber orchestras. “Outside of school I perform community service, tutoring elementary school children,” he said.
One of the highlights of Mr. Gilbert’s Huntington years was competing on the 2013 Long Island regional championship Science Bowl team with Aron Coraor, Marc Feldman and Jacob Roday. The group flew to Washington, DC for the national finals. “We lost in the tournament there, but I got to meet brilliant students and scientists from around the country,” he said.
A starter on the Blue Devil varsity tennis team since he was a tenth grader, Mr. Gilbert is a team captain this spring. “Last year we had an undefeated regular season and reached the playoffs for the first time in years,” he said. “Our meet was all the way in the Hamptons and we lost in a final match tiebreaker, but it was a great year and a great team.”
With a senior year schedule that includes AP Environmental Science, AP Government & Politics, Literature and AP Microeconomics, Mr. Gilbert isn’t coasting toward graduation. He is continuing as a member of the school orchestra and is interning with math teacher Lynn Hendricks in an AP Statistics class.
“My favorite classes at the high school have been AP Chemistry with Ms. [Dame] Forbes and AP Government with Mr. [Joseph] Leavy,” Mr. Gilbert said. “They both have really contagious enthusiasm for the subject matter and are able to bring life to even the most technical details.”
Mr. Gilbert chose to attend Brown University after narrowing his choices to that Ivy League school and Williams College in Massachusetts. “My plan is to study physics in college,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about careers that combine science and public policy, but I could easily end up doing something completely different.”
In addition to Brown and Williams, Mr. Gilbert was also accepted by Boston University, Columbia University, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Northwestern University, Rice University and Washington University in St. Louis.
“My biggest commitment outside of school has been my research internship at Brookhaven National Laboratory for the Muon (g-2) Collaboration,” Mr. Gilbert said. The senior has participated in several research competitions. He was named a regional semifinalist in the Junior Science & Humanities Symposium.
Mr. Gilbert advises incoming Huntington High School freshmen “to focus on their education, instead of on their grades. If you take care of learning, the rest will take care of itself.”