Name: Reid Ellison
Anzar High School
Age: 16
GPA: 4.0
City: Aromas
College: Columbia University, New York
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Scholarships: Aromas Family Grange, Aromas-San Juan Community Foundation, Hollister Exchange Club, San Juan Oaks
Favorite Food: Sweet and sour chicken
Hero: Buzz Aldrin
As the youngest member of his senior class, Reid Ellison will head to New York city this August, and spend his 17th birthday roaming Columbia University’s campus looking for classrooms on his very first day of college.
Since applying and deciding to attend Columbia, the only images of his future college he’s seen have been in books and on the Internet, but he’ll be able to bring those pictures to life with smells and sounds when he finally arrives in person.
“It’s going to be quite different walking the streets of New York and being just another anonymous person in a big city,” Ellison said.
At 16-years-old, Ellison will share the valedictorian spot with classmate Rachel Martinez. He came to Anzar High School half way through his eighth-grade year.
“Eighth-grade was boring,” he said.
Along with volunteering for the Interact Community Service Organization and being President of the Technology Club, Ellison is the co-founder of a un-official club at Anzar – the Communist Club. His excitement for engineering is paralleled with a fascination with the judicial system. Ellison participated in the schools mock trial program for two years and was so enthralled, he decided to get more into it outside of class.
“I started volunteering my time at the district attorney’s office,” he said. “It made me really interested in pursuing law.”
Whether he ends up a lawyer or a rocket scientist, Ellison said the big move from Aromas to New York city will be interesting, but more exciting than anything else.
“I will definitely miss the small-town atmosphere where everybody knows you,” he said.
