After a long and difficult journey through high school, Peter Larson got the ultimate result: Salutatorian.
“I feel that I have worked for this honor,” said Larson after being named co-salutatorian.
For Larson, the ideal goal was valedictorian, but he said that position was taken by someone who worked harder than he did. “[Julie] deserves that title,” he said.
Both Larson and valedictorian Julie Fornaciari have had just about every single class together since their start in Prep Academy, and even though they did get on each other’s nerves at times, they were still able to have friendly competition and have a good laugh every now and then.
“Having Julie in the majority of my classes has in no way hindered my success, but rather, it may be the source of it,” said Larson. “Having her there as friendly competition helped to motivate myself to study and to work hard.”
Larson also said it was his desire to be successful in academics that helped him achieve his 4.35 GPA. “I knew that in order to get into the college of my choice I would have to work hard in high school, and it was this drive to want to choose the best college that also helped me achieve this status.”
But, studying hard in school wasn’t the only thing Larson occupied himself with the past five years at Noll. He was also involved in many extracurricular activities, including the varsity tennis team, math club, Academic Super Bowl, and the newly formed band. In addition to these school activities, Larson is also involved in the local youth orchestra and Boy Scouts. Balancing all of this and school work wasn’t the easiest task, but Larson says that the key was time management.
“I was able to attain the rank of Eagle Scout after a full summer of planning. I basically had to sacrifice free time if I wanted to excel in music and scouts [as well as in school],” he said. “This has paid off, but I will definitely be doing a lot more relaxing this summer.”
Throughout his life, Larson believes that both of his parents have been very influential, but his mother, Diane, has been the significant figure. “She encourages me in every endeavor I take on,” he said. “But both my mom and dad have given me a great amount of support during my years at Noll. They do their best to instill a positive mental attitude into everything I do. I appreciate this, and it makes the difficult things easier to accomplish.”
Throughout his years at Noll, one of the best pieces of advice Larson was given was to not beat yourself up at something you aren’t good. “All you can do is to put forward your best effort and go from there,” Larson said.  “Everybody is different and has their own talents. If everyone was the same, life would be extremely boring.”
Next year, Larson will be attending Rochester Institute of Technology in New York with an intended major of mechanical engineering.