By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — It didn’t take long for Benjamin Jachim-Gallagher to figure out how to solve a problem of being in two places at once following his graduation June 5th from Newport High School.
The Harvard-bound Newporter and five of his friends already had plans to visit several countries in Europe for two weeks in June.
On Sunday, June 23, he was scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., to be presented his medallion as one of two U.S. Presidential Scholars from New Hampshire and only one of 161 in the entire country.
No problem.
Ben went to Europe with his friends. Midway through that trip, he flew back to Washington, D.C. for the June 23 ceremony before hopping a plane for his return trip to Europe to rejoin his group for the second half of their journey.
The 12-14 hour flights covered about 6,000 kilometers or 3,728 miles.
He left Venice on Friday, June 21, landed in Chicago and then took another flight to Washington, arriving Saturday night, June 22. He flew back to Marseille Tuesday afternoon to complete his journey.
During his stopover in Washington, Jachim-Gallagher was never at a loss for things to do. “It went really well,” he summed up that visit in four words.
He arrived at 11 p.m. on Saturday, spent the night in a hotel and then went off to meet other scholars Sunday afternoon. Of the 161 selected covering every state in the country, 153 were in Washington.
“My family came. There were a lot of family members in the audience supporting all the Presidential Scholars,” he stated.
Jachim-Gallagher said he got to meet and bond with other scholars for two hours prior to the official Sunday afternoon ceremony.
Each Presidential Scholar went up on the stage to receive a medallion presented by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. On Monday morning the Scholars visited the White House to meet President Donald Trump and join him for a group photo session.
“What meant the most to me was being able to meet other Scholars than it was receiving the medallion,” Jachim-Gallagher said as he reflected on his Washington journey. “It was really special to meet all the top high school seniors in the country,” he added.
This summer, Ben is working at the Newport Recreation Center. He will start his college career at Harvard on Aug. 20 with preorientation.
“I want to congratulate this year’s class of Presidential Scholars on their achievement both inside of the classroom and out,” DeVos said in a press release when the 161 Presidential Scholars were announced earlier.
Members of the group were recognized for demonstrating outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, technical expertise, leadership, citizenship, service and contribution to the school and community.
Created in 1964, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program has honored more than 7,500 of the nation’s top-performing students with the prestigious award.
Since 1983, each U.S. Presidential Scholar has been offered the opportunity to name his or her most influential teacher. The teacher chosen for recognition by Jachim-Gallager was Steve Christensen of Newport High School.
“Mr. Christensen is truly the most caring, honest and supportive teacher I know. Mr. ‘C’ as he is known, is a science teacher and a coach. He teaches the honors sections of physical science, chemistry and physics. He is also the school’s field hockey coach,” Jachim-Gallager wrote in the application process.
“He is the best student, not just a student but his humility,” Christensen related.
During the college application process, Jachim-Gallagher was accepted at several colleges including Georgetown, Williams, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown.
In the classroom, Jachim-Gallagher said he did other work while paying attention. “I keep myself busy in class to stay interested,” he revealed.
“A lot of what I’ve done in high school is finding my own path.” At the end of his junior year Ben said he had maxed out the curriculum at Newport High School and had to find things to do. “I’ve taken all of the classes offered.”By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — It didn’t take long for Benjamin Jachim-Gallagher to figure out how to solve a problem of being in two places at once following his graduation June 5th from Newport High School.
The Harvard-bound Newporter and five of his friends already had plans to visit several countries in Europe for two weeks in June.
On Sunday, June 23, he was scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., to be presented his medallion as one of two U.S. Presidential Scholars from New Hampshire and only one of 161 in the entire country.
No problem.
Ben went to Europe with his friends. Midway through that trip, he flew back to Washington, D.C. for the June 23 ceremony before hopping a plane for his return trip to Europe to rejoin his group for the second half of their journey.
The 12-14 hour flights covered about 6,000 kilometers or 3,728 miles.
He left Venice on Friday, June 21, landed in Chicago and then took another flight to Washington, arriving Saturday night, June 22. He flew back to Marseille Tuesday afternoon to complete his journey.
During his stopover in Washington, Jachim-Gallagher was never at a loss for things to do. “It went really well,” he summed up that visit in four words.
He arrived at 11 p.m. on Saturday, spent the night in a hotel and then went off to meet other scholars Sunday afternoon. Of the 161 selected covering every state in the country, 153 were in Washington.
“My family came. There were a lot of family members in the audience supporting all the Presidential Scholars,” he stated.
Jachim-Gallagher said he got to meet and bond with other scholars for two hours prior to the official Sunday afternoon ceremony.
Each Presidential Scholar went up on the stage to receive a medallion presented by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. On Monday morning the Scholars visited the White House to meet President Donald Trump and join him for a group photo session.
“What meant the most to me was being able to meet other Scholars than it was receiving the medallion,” Jachim-Gallagher said as he reflected on his Washington journey. “It was really special to meet all the top high school seniors in the country,” he added.
This summer, Ben is working at the Newport Recreation Center. He will start his college career at Harvard on Aug. 20 with preorientation.
“I want to congratulate this year’s class of Presidential Scholars on their achievement both inside of the classroom and out,” DeVos said in a press release when the 161 Presidential Scholars were announced earlier.
Members of the group were recognized for demonstrating outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, technical expertise, leadership, citizenship, service and contribution to the school and community.
Created in 1964, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program has honored more than 7,500 of the nation’s top-performing students with the prestigious award.
Since 1983, each U.S. Presidential Scholar has been offered the opportunity to name his or her most influential teacher. The teacher chosen for recognition by Jachim-Gallager was Steve Christensen of Newport High School.
“Mr. Christensen is truly the most caring, honest and supportive teacher I know. Mr. ‘C’ as he is known, is a science teacher and a coach. He teaches the honors sections of physical science, chemistry and physics. He is also the school’s field hockey coach,” Jachim-Gallager wrote in the application process.
“He is the best student, not just a student but his humility,” Christensen related.
During the college application process, Jachim-Gallagher was accepted at several colleges including Georgetown, Williams, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown.
In the classroom, Jachim-Gallagher said he did other work while paying attention. “I keep myself busy in class to stay interested,” he revealed.
“A lot of what I’ve done in high school is finding my own path.” At the end of his junior year Ben said he had maxed out the curriculum at Newport High School and had to find things to do. “I’ve taken all of the classes offered.”
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