Spotlight on the RHS Class of 2014 Valedictorian

Being named class valedictorian is perhaps the biggest honor a student can achieve. Yesterday, Philip DiGiacomo stood before hundreds of fellow students, faculty, and proud family members as the RHS Class of 2014 Valedictorian. 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a valedictorian as "the student who has the highest grades in a graduating class and who gives a speech at graduation ceremonies." In Latin, valedictorian means "farewell sayer",  or the person who is chosen to bid farewell on behalf of his or her fellow students.

With honor and grace, Philip DiGiacomo made Ridgefield proud as he bid farewell to RHS. This amazing scholar has not only excelled academically during his four years at RHS, he has proven himself to be a pillar of the Ridgefield community, a philanthropist, a loyal friend, and a stand-out athlete. 

DiGiacomo is a National Merit Scholar, National Honor Society member, and Eagle Scout. He has earned the RHS Scholar-Athlete Award and the Elizabeth Bigelow Ballard Fund Scholarship.

DiGiacomo's philanthropic work is not only admirable, it is inspiring. He completed his Senior Internship at the American Red Cross (where he continues to volunteer). He volunteers his time as a mathematics tutor for RHS students. This summer, DiGiacomo will intern in the Radiation-Oncology Department at Stony Brook University Hospital.

A true lover of the great outdoors, when Philip has spare time, he enjoys running, hiking, and playing ultimate Frisbee. He has hiked in Grand Teton National Park, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, the John Muir Wilderness, Sierra National Forest, Mount Whitney, and the Adirondack Mountains. This summer he will hike in Yosemite National Park.

DiGiacomo finds time to delve into literature. He enjoys reading about cosmology and theoretical mathematics. He also likes postmodern literature, especially avant-garde poetry.

"He thoroughly enjoyed his time at RHS," says his mother, Cynthia.  "The faculty, staff, and students allowed him to grow in ways that he had never expected," she adds.

Philip is headed to Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California where he will major in Physics.

Below is the speech Philip DiGiacomo read at yesterday's graduation: 

Congratulations RHS Class of 2014! I would first like to thank Deborah Low, the Board of Education, our principal Dr. Gross, Ridgefield High School's administrators, teachers, and students for giving me this opportunity.

I am honored to stand alongside everyone here today. I would also like to thank my family for their unending support for me.

I've been a student at Ridgefield Public Schools since kindergarten. Thinking of those days as a young student at Veterans Park Elementary School, I remember my innocent curiosity about the world: seeing Mr. Veteri's uncanny facial expressions, feeling the hot sun engulf my skin, running endlessly during recess while playing kickball or buds up. At that age, everything we came across was novel and exciting. We gazed upon our vast and mysterious universe, and we asked ourselves some questions. Why does our world have day and night? Why is a year divided into summer and winter? Why do we feel pleasure and pain? About 18 years ago, we were tiny aliens surveying a planet full of mystery and fascination.

Over the years, however, we got used to our surroundings. We got used to holding a parent's firm and calloused hand. We got used to hearing our classmates' voices recite the pledge of allegiance. We got used to seeing that grassy landscape sprawling ahead of us on the playground. These scenes became typical and common. Our planet no longer fascinated us like it used to.

When our elders gave quick answers to our questions, we accepted them. When they said, "day and night exist due to the earth's rotation," we said, "yeah." When they told us, "seasons arise from the Earth's axial tilt," we said, "yeah we got that." When they said, "pleasure and pain are electrical impulses that exist in our brains," we said, "yeah we got that too."

Once these answers began to outnumber our innate questions, we had no choice but to complacently accept our surroundings. Our innocent curiosity began to wane.

Luckily for us, we can still recapture that childlike feeling of immersion in a novel and exciting universe. We can revitalize our minds' ceaseless fascination about the world. We can be reborn as children and let our curiosity seize us. And how do we do this? Through our devotion to education.

When exploring the eye of Jupiter's storm through astronomy, hearing Socrates' words ring through ancient Athens, or reading Ahab's stubborn quest to slay a white whale, we once again become aliens exploring a new world. This time, we are exploring the boundless universe of knowledge. In this universe, new questions appear and permeate our thoughts. The mind runs wild with creativity. Our education has once again captured our fascination.

During our time at RHS, we have each experienced a moment, however brief, when our childlike sense of fascination reappeared. At some point, we found an idea that resonated with us more than the others. Based on this idea, we began taking courses that eventually led us to choose college and career paths.

Some of us will choose to handle pages in ancient archives. Others will brandish test tubes in labs. Some will build infirmaries for developing countries, and still others will chisel mounds of marble into masterpieces.

Whatever we decide to do, we have learned that our innate passions must guide what we go after. Even if we did not determine our career path in meticulous detail, we discovered our natural affinities. We found a spark that unleashed our curiosity and let our minds wander. Finding this spark was the goal of our last four years, and Ridgefield High School gave us the means to discover it.

The next four years are our chance to develop that spark, and let it ignite our imaginations. In the next four years, we can study almost anything we want, we can meet people from other countries, and we can explore new cultures. We can devote ourselves solely to that spark we kindled in high school.

So as we embark on these golden years of learning, let us first learn to embrace our education. Let us foremost honor our commitment to curiosity and the questions that strike a vein in our imaginations.

But let us not only be curious about books and lab experiments, let us be curious about the students around us, the quirks of our professors, and the beautiful environment in our midst. Let us follow our most unpredictable and wild dreams as we explore our vast universe as children once again.

*Photo courtesy Erin Phillips