John F. Kennedy is proud to announce our class of 2025 Valedictorian, Abigayle Morin. Entering high school and officially leaving, Abigayle’s journey is something unremarkably exciting and relatable to every student at Kennedy. Being valedictorian is never easy, but Ms. Morin was able to pull it off.
Morin is a senior at Kennedy who is in dance, plays Varsity Volleyball, and is in the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Interact Club, Business Professionals of America, and Trinity Upward bound. She is a well-rounded student who has a true school spirit, being such an active student as a senior helps not only herself but other students.
Ms. Morin can be seen as a role model to the lower classmen and even her classmates. It takes one person for a change and having our valedictorian taking these big steps is very admirable.
“High school definitely had its ups and downs, but overall, I mean it’s helped me grow as a person,” said Morin.
Abigayle came to Kennedy in 2021 as a first-year student and from the start, her biggest support was her friends and family. In her first-year as a student, she had many friends, but as the years passed, her circle got smaller. However, Morin was happy since she was able to surround herself with true and good friends throughout all of high school. In fact, she said she’d miss her classmates, friends and teachers the most whenever she leaves for college.
“Everybody here, it’s just so familiar. I’ve known some of these people since I went to elementary school with them or like I went to middle school with them. So, like, it’s just like being in a familiar place here where I grew up,” said Morin.
Morin is taking her biggest step yet: going to university.
“I’m going to go to Texas Tech, and I am really excited,” said Morin.
Morin is going to Texas Tech, and it has opened a new opportunity to become who she is. She is going to study law and wants to become a lawyer. She isn’t too sure what she wnats to go under exactly, but she is ready for anything that comes her way.
“I’ve always wanted to become a lawyer and, coincidentally, everyone would always tell me that I was a good arguer and could handle arguments,” said Morin.
Morin’s dream job has always been being a lawyer, and she always had the motive to become a lawyer, since a strength of hers was being a good arguer. Being a lawyer is a high-standard job, and Morin is all in for it. She recently got a full-ride scholarship to Texas Tech titled “Terry Scholarship”, which she will be using towards her degree and career.
Having a dream of being a lawyer must be overwhelming for a senior going to university. But Morin has been able to get through the decisions and start her future career because of her family’s support.
“My family have been really supportive of me and my decisions. They’ve never forced me to be good at my academics, they were just there to always support me through, like my decisions and whatnot. So, it was never like ‘ohh I’m pressured to do this’. I just did what I wanted with their support,” said Morin.
Morin is the eldest daughter of 4 siblings, so she has felt the pressure and having her mom as her go-to person has also helped her through high school. Morin was also able to get help from her advisers at school.
“You really know how it goes, having one parent in the house and then also being a first-generation student. So, I really didn’t know what to do my senior year, like college applications and like scholarships and other similar things like that. So, having these clubs like Upgrade Bound has been able to help me with making my resume and things like that. So, that was really beneficial because I honestly wouldn’t have been as successful as I am,” said Morin.
Being a Kennedy student means having good integrity and always being the best version of yourself with pride, because they can achieve whatever they put their mind to.
The last advice said by Morin is “not to give up, like when it gets hard, surround yourself with true friends, be kind to everyone, and be a good person overall.”