Salutatorian Nathan Henry

Headphones in, head down, phone timer set for 15 minutes — Nathan Henry is ready to study. This is the routine that one of the salutatorians followed to achieve laser focus and maintain his grades throughout high school.  

Another way that Henry said he found success in high school was by finding the parts of school that he has a knack for. “I enjoy pushing myself and pushing my limits,” he said. “But I wanted to find my talents.”

Those limits were particularly pushed in Henry’s math class this year, which came as a surprise to him since math is one of his favorite subjects. “This last math class, Introduction to Linear Algebra, I just kind of hit a wall with it and barely understood things,” he said. “It was fun to blindly really have a hard time understanding something. Now I know my limit.”

Math and science were subjects that Henry discovered a liking for in high school due to the common definiteness in the problems. “The thing about math and physics is that there’s always a set answer,” he said. “It’s always like this is the answer. No debate. And that’s what I really like about it. It’s just a solid answer.”

To keep himself organized and stay on top of his schoolwork, Henry uses a method that some might call old fashioned. “I’ll have posty notes — I’ll just write everything I need to do on them, and then kind of stick them on my wall,” he said. “I can cross them out when I finish, and crossing things out when I’m done is a really satisfying thing to do… that’s motivation.”

Henry will be attending Oregon State University in the fall and will major in engineering, which he feels will leave him with a broad range of career options to explore. 

Oregon State’s engineering program ranks highly among other programs, which is what ultimately led Henry to commit to the school. “They’re known for their engineering program which is one of the main reasons I chose there,” he said.

Henry plans to focus on electrical engineering in particular, and said that he is interested in numerous jobs in that field. “Anywhere from radio communication to robots to software to power supply to renewable energy, there’s so many things you could do with electrical engineering,” he said.

When he is not studying or going to school, Henry enjoys playing table tennis. He has a ping pong table at his house and uses the activity to destress, have fun, and spend time with his family.

Henry hopes to continue this activity in college, and plans to join Oregon States’ club or intramural team. “I think it would be really fun to get better at it, and get really good at table tennis,” he said. “It’s always been a fun thing to do.”

Something else that Henry plans to continue doing in college is running. He ran cross country during all four years of high school, which he said helped him meet the friends he is still close with now.

“I’m not competitively joining a cross country or track team, but just running to stay fit,” Henry said. “I’ll definitely keep doing that.”

As Henry steps into a new chapter of his life, he is looking forward to the prospect of adulting. “Over this past year I’ve gotten pretty independent at doing my own thing and not really relying on other people,” he said.

Henry commutes 35 minutes to La Salle each morning, so he is also looking forward to the easy access he will have to the resources at Oregon State. “There’s freedom and kind of everything is near you,” he said. “Everything’s on campus.”