The Salutatorian Speaks

School resumed again on Monday, the second semester of the 2014-15 academic year. Some students were looking ahead to 12 and-a-half more years of such days while others counted just four months remaining of their public education.

If you are at the top of your game at the top of your class, you will spend a lot of time planning for those final months of your high school tenure. Senior-itis isn’t something these students catch, for there is a future to plan for while they try to enjoy the waning moments of their glory days.

This year’s salutatorian-to-be at Gonzales High School has had this moment on her radar since 2011.

 “At my 8^th grade awards ceremony, towards the end of the year, I received an award for the second highest GPA. So that’s when I realized, ‘Hey, you could be first,’” said Brittany Walker, the No. 2 student in GHS’s Class of 2015.

It occurred to Walker, all of 14 at the time, that much work would be needed to keep herself in contention to graduate at or near the top of her class. Her quest for success was set in motion early in life by her grandfather, an avid proponent of education.

“My grandpa, he was all about education. He was an engineer, he was a doctor and he was an attorney,” she said. “Ever since I was a little girl he said that education was important and that always stuck with me.”

Her grandfather was Lawrence Hastings. He started life as a doctor before he became dissatisfied with the ignorance of malpractice lawyers he encountered so he decided to become one on his own. We will get back to him later.

 Walker currently sports a 4.412 GPA and is happy to be in the position she is in.

“When you work this hard, as hard as I have to be in the No. 2 spot, it feels good to be known as the salutatorian of your class. It’s a fun thing,” she said.

So how does one get to such academic heights and still have time for a social life and recreation? Is it even possible? Walker’s classes this semester include biology, calculus, Spanish 4 and computer science. And those aren’t regular classes—as difficult as those alone can be— but hers are advanced placement courses meant to gain additional college credit while she is still in Gonzales.

That’s enough to make a reporter put his recorder down and shudder at the thought.

“Definitely have to have time management,” she said. “You have to have a life too or you will get overwhelmed with your studies or get stressed out.”

For her part, she lives a rather normal high school existence. Participation in clubs like FFA, NHS, UIL, Leo Club and some dabbling in sports is balanced with a home life that includes her hobby of hunting deer, hogs and doves. This year she bagged a nice eight-point buck, but much like her school life, she was too occupied to snap a photo.

“I was too busy skinning him and getting the meat prepared,” she said.

Though Walker has had a full schedule for what comes next, one immediate adventure that she has planned is quite special for this community and one that will hopefully get her to where she wants to go.

This summer, she has accepted a spot in the Intensive Law and Trial camp at Stanford Law School in California. It caters to “high-achieving high school students with an exciting and interactive experience exploring the field of law, as well as being introduced to the many law careers available.”

“I received a letter in the mail one day and it was from Stanford. They actually invited me to come do this,” she said. Her interest in law and her high grades are what put her on their radar.

“I’m so excited. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted to be a lawyer,” Walker explained. “I’m beyond excited to get this done and see what the future has in store for me, get my education and be a successful attorney.”

The camp is a 12-day seminar in June where Walker will get to stay in the campus dormitory with like-minded students across the country. There she will study law in a simulated courtroom and conduct a mock trial in front of real judges, Stanford professionals and law students. As a bonus, it will add two college credits to her resume and will give her a real world feel of what it is like to be an attorney.

“Another thing that is really cool is also at this law camp we will be studying different cases and I am actually going to study one of my grandfather’s cases,” she explained.

As stated above, her grandfather Lawrence was an attorney and turned out to be a rather accomplished one. In 1960 he challenged the American Tobacco Company in court, alleging that their product was linked to lung cancer. Throughout that decade he fought appeals, victories and reversals on the matter but is regarded as being the man whose diligent work led to cigarette warnings being placed on packs in 1966.

This is the case that she will be studying while at Stanford.

Walker figures that she will have a couple of years to figure out what area of law she would like to practice. She counts local attorney Robert Bland as being helpful in guiding her about law and being supportive in her efforts. One day she hopes to open her own law firm or even become the U.S. Attorney General.

“It’s dreams, but hopefully I’ll accomplish them,” she said.

When Walker returns she looks forward to spending as much time with family as she can before she leaves for college in August. Then, she will become an Aggie at Texas A&M University where she will study pre-law political science with a goal of graduating within three years. Even though she looked at attending the University of Texas, rivalries didn’t really concern her when it came to higher education.

“I went and visited in November and I was just comfortable there, you know, and they say that is the deciding factor for school kids when they go and they feel comfortable,” she said. “Everyone was so friendly and I felt that I fit in there.”

For now, a lot of her free time at home is spent working on scholarship applications and writing essays to accompany them. This she does for one of the smartest and humble reasons, “So my parents don’t get stuck with bills and so I don’t get stuck with student loans.”

There is one date that she will rattle off quickly and exact, as if she has been anticipating it for a while: May 29, 7 p.m., Apache Field. The date of her commencement exercises, and the moment of a really important speech she must deliver.

“I have no idea what I want to say, she said, referring to her salutatorian’s address. “I want to say words that inspire the rest of the community and the graduates to be somebody. To be everything that they can be, like I’m trying to do.”

As the bell rang, students filled the hallways headed to class or the library, just another stop on the countdown to the end of the year. But Brittany Walker hoped that maybe they would read this and be inspired.

“I hope that they see just because they’re from a small town like Gonzales doesn’t mean they can’t do something with their lives,” she said. “A lot of the kids have this mentality that they’re stuck in this small town or they have to stay with their family business—which is not a bad thing—or that they’re not going to be anything and that’s not the case. They can be whatever they want to be. They just have to set their mind to it like I have and go chase their dreams.”

Sounds like a good conclusion to a speech that she has to give in four months.