UMass valedictorian looks back on honor society snub

NAHANT – With student end-of-year activities winding down, Nahant resident Owen Welsh has a few words for those who missed those coveted awards by inches: “Other doors will open for you.”After four years of earning a perfect 4.0 grade point average at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, the Class of 2013 valedictorian reflected on getting over on being rejected from the Swampscott High School National Honor Society though he was in the top ten percent of his graduating class.?In theory I don?t think it?s fair, but in practice I?m done being bitter about it,” said Welsh. “I have much bigger and better things to think about than an organization that might have wronged me in high school. I?ve grown beyond them.”Welsh admitted he shouldn?t have written a free-from rant, complete with foul language, about his frustration with the high school?s computer skills class, or saved it in his student account, but he said he wasn?t sure whether it should have been the reason he was kept from the honor.?I look back at it and it was a stupid mistake that I made in less bright years, a stupid mistake I didn?t think through,” said Welsh. “But at the same time, after everything I did, really?”Welsh swears the list of academic achievements he earned at UMass Lowell, including the Chancellor?s Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement, the Trustees? Key for maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA for four years and the Commonwealth Honors Medal, had nothing to do with showing his hometown high school what they could have had. “I strived to be the best I could be for my own sense of self-worth and satisfaction,” said the math major.Welsh credited his success to hard work and a little bit of talent with his course of study, but made sure to research all his professors beforehand to find out who was an unfair grader. He also found time to discover a passion for “spoken word poetry” and encouraged incoming freshmen to find a balance between fun and academics.Degree in hand, Welsh is now considering either a master?s degree or embarking on his career in computer programming; he already works part-time at Mercury Systems in Chelmsford. But even with his high level of achievement, Welsh said those finishing high school and college who are stressing about not being “the best four years of your life” needn?t worry.?On average, there are 60 years of life after this,” said Welsh. “That?s pretty long for it not to get better after that ? my high school years were, by and large, pretty awful and things got so much better after that. Not immediately, it takes time, but it?s worth the wait and worth going out there to make it happen.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].