Andres Jimenez

After four years of hard work and dedication to his academics, Andres Jimenez has been awarded the title of valedictorian. He has maintained a 4.0 for his entire high school career while taking rigorous courses and participating in extracurricular activities.

Jimenez is extremely proud of this most recent achievement. “Putting all my work, like hard work, in for four years and not missing a step is definitely an achievement that I really take pride in,” Jimenez said.

He has been working towards this goal for his entire high school career in order to get into a good college. “Since freshman year, I’ve always put that goal into my mind like, ‘I want to be a valedictorian.’ […] I know the best way to get into a good college is… obviously getting all A’s and having a 4.0 would definitely help in applying and getting into those colleges that I really want to go to,” Jimenez said.

He participated in multiple extracurricular activities throughout his time at BSM including Business Professionals of America, math league, and three years of soccer, two of those being on varsity. Despite being a part of all of those clubs, Jimenez claims that it didn’t affect his ability to keep his grades up. “It just took up time. It didn’t take up the energy to actually do those assignments; I still had the energy to do them. I just, of course, didn’t get as much sleep,” Jimenez said.

Although sports and clubs didn’t come close to ruining his 4.0, he says one class did. “Honors English 10, that was the most difficult class I had to take… I’m more of a concrete thinker that’s why I like doing math [and] I like doing science,” Jimenez said.

His valedictorian status has gotten him into the honors programs of both the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota and the School of Engineering at St. Thomas. He has decided to major in electrical engineering to follow his love for math, science and puzzles, “[I’ve] always loved engineering [and]… puzzles from a young age, and I like solving problems in the real world,” Jimenez said.

His favorite teacher, Mr. Matt McMerty-Brummer, who taught Jimenez from Hispanohablantes I to Hispanohablantes III, really appreciates his hard work. “He engaged in the class, he participated, he pushed the material beyond the surface value, [and] he tried to make connections between what we were doing and the real world,” McMerty-Brummer said.

Jimenez also claims anyone can be a valedictorian through hard work and dedication. “I think if you want to be a valedictorian, you definitely have to put in the work, there’s no question about it. Don’t stress about it. If you get one assignment [wrong] because you have a lot of other assignments or… tests, to make up. It’s not the end of the world, and plus, if you want to be a valedictorian, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. It’s just a question of if you put in the work or not. Because sometimes, I feel like I’m not even the smartest one in the room, but I know I am always there to put in the work, always participate in my class, and complete assignments on time,” Jimenez said.