Last week, I wrote up a post about one of my recent academic failures – namely, the unfortunate experience of being placed on probation due to falling short of the 3.5 GPA required by Macaulay.

Today, I am going to attempt to cheer myself up by reflecting on a recent academic success. (I realize that not all successful experiences have to be academic, but since I am a Macaulay Honors student, most of my life is spent on academics and most of my successes are in that field.)

As I indicated in my bio, I graduated at the top of my class in high school and was honored with the tremendous privilege of delivering the valedictory address. I believe that this was really the high point, the pinnacle (if you will), of my academic career.

There is no way to recount how many sleepless nights I had while in high school or how many times I would wake up at dawn to finish that English paper or to study for that AP US History exam that I would be taking in a few hours.

It is also worth noting that I dropped two of my courses – physics and calculus – to ensure that I would, in fact, be valedictorian.  If I had taken those courses, they would likely have proven to be a formidable challenge that may have hindered my prospects of being valedictorian.

In any event, I was a real nerd back in high school, and I prepared my valedictory address as early as February (when graduation wasn’t until June). Being valedictorian was a goal that I had from the day that I began high school, and when I got my report cards and saw that 97% GPA (or, occasionally, G-d forbid, a 95%), I knew that the day would come when I would meet my goal. And indeed it did.