Superintendent’s Spotlight: James Curtis

Warwick Valley High School senior James Curtis was officially recognized as a semifinalist by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) on Sept. 10. The NMSC honors the nation’s scholastic standouts and encourages the pursuit of academic excellence. To qualify as a semifinalist, a student must perform strongly on their Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of all test-takers in the U.S. each year, only 16,000 qualify as semifinalists, which represents less than 1% of high school seniors in the country.

”It’s definitely something that I’m proud of; it’s an honor, but it wasn’t something that I actually had in mind when I took the test,” Curtis said, taking a modest approach to sharing his remarkable qualifying score. “I got a 1520.”

For the record, the globally recognized education and test prep specialists at Kaplan state that 1520 is the highest possible score that can be earned on the PSAT. Curtis’ academic successes are numerous and stem from his combination of enthusiasm for learning, studious effort, and an approach rooted in setting personal goals.

”My approach is to just do a bunch of stuff, like, take the most challenging classes you can,” he said. “I try to do the hardest lessons I can do and take advantage of all the opportunities that are here in Warwick; basically, challenge myself.”

WVHS principal Georgianna Diopoulos was also Curtis’ principal at Warwick Valley Middle School and has seen his passion and plan in action for eight years.

”James is an inspiring student. Since I’ve met him when he was in the fifth grade, even then, science was his focus and his love,” Diopoulos said. “It’s really exciting to see how he’s grown over the years and continued to achieve his goals. Obviously, his PSAT score qualified him for this honor, but his whole work ethic and love of learning really align with the mission and vision of the NMSC, to honor and encourage academic rigor.”

And speaking of rigor, this year Curtis will complete and present his findings as part of the high school’s Science Research Project, one of Warwick Valley’s most rigorous programs. The Science Research Project is a three-year, undergrad-credit-earning academic initiative offered in collaboration with SUNY Albany. It immerses students in authentic scientific research. Students choose their own topics and conduct original research with guidance from a professional mentor in their chosen field.

Curtis’ topic? As someone who has had an interest in all things space and astrophysics since the first grade, he has been using his time in the program to study and compile data on exoplanet transits.

”An exoplanet is any planet that’s not in our solar system, in other words, not orbiting our star,” he said, adding that it is a relatively new field, with the first confirmed exoplanet discovery recorded in the 1990s. “So, Earth, Mercury, Venus — all of those — Jupiter, Saturn, those are not exoplanets. But every other planet is considered an exoplanet.”

Curtis will present his findings this June at the annual Science Research Symposium. In the meantime, his academically ambitious plans include another year competing on both the high school’s DUSO Region Math Team and its quiz bowl-style Orange County Academic League Team. However, what he’s looking forward to most of all is another year competing as part of the WVHS Wildcats Robotics Team.

”We had our first meeting a couple of Mondays ago, and it’s possibly going to be one of the most chaotic seasons so far in terms of how they structured the game,” he said, adding how all-new, heightened challenges have been added by the robotic league’s governing board. “This year, there are flying projectiles now, and one robot also has to park underneath another. So, basically, one robot has to be engineered to turn into a garage for the another one to park in. That’s probably what I’m focusing on.”

Curtis said that challenging himself the way he has from a young(er) age has led him to where he is now, a leader on the robotics team, a sharp competitor on both the Math and OCAL teams, a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, and a National Honor Society member who is proud to serve as a tutor and mentor to middle school students. Asked what advice he would give them about living their best high school lives, he brought it all back to one thing: be the best you that you can be.

”Colleges really want to see you taking challenging classes during high school, and it really just sets you up for success,” Curtis said in the spirit of a true life-long learner. “You can study things here, in a more — easy is definitely not the word — maybe forgiving environment. Like, you have all this support from teachers, and you can take a class here over an entire school year that might be a half-year course in college.”

After a pause, he added, ”And go to the Club Fair and join the robotics team.”