Two months after receiving his COVID-19 vaccine in May, freshman Josh Greco learned that he had won a sizable prize rewarding him for his decision to get vaccinated — a $100,000 scholarship to any college of his choosing.

“I was playing with my brother and my dad comes out and he’s like, ‘you just won $100,000,’ and I thought it was a joke,” he said. “I still don’t believe it.”

Greco said that the news left him “shocked,” and “that it was too good to be true.” 

“Once I started to realize that it was true, then I was like ‘okay, well, my life is definitely going to change,’” Greco said. 

Greco garnered plenty of attention following his win, including a personal phone call from Oregon governor Kate Brown. The conversation with Brown was to congratulate him on his win.

Following his initial reaction to the news, Greco began to realize that the burden of affording his education was no longer something he would have to worry about. “I’m definitely not going to have to go through the stress of finding money for college,” he said.

Although he is unsure of exactly where he wants to attend college as he is only a freshman, Greco is interested in attending a school in the Pacific Northwest. 

As far as choosing his high school, Greco owes a large part of his decision to attend La Salle to the opportunities present in the Maker Space. “It was probably the design center, that was one of the big things,” Greco said. “I remember coming in here and just saying, ‘Wow this is a nice place.’”

Greco is currently working on making a model plane in the maker space, where he is still learning to overcome some challenges. “I’m trying, but it’s quite a lot of roadblocks,” he said.

One of Greco’s favorite things about the Maker Space is “to socialize with the people in there and, of course, 3D print stuff,” he said. 

As he begins his freshman year at La Salle, Greco is hoping to play baseball in the spring, and is interested in looking around for some clubs to join. 

Greco is currently a student in one of Mr. Greg Larson’s freshman English classes, and although he doesn’t usually enjoy the subject, it is now one of his favorite classes because of the teacher. “I like Mr. Larson,” he said. “He’s funny.”

As for electives, Greco is currently taking Music Technology, and hopes to take Intro to Design Thinking and Tools next semester. He chose to take Music Technology because he enjoys music and has played the trumpet for three years.

Greco originally planned on joining La Salle’s band; however, it didn’t work out with his schedule, so in substitute he decided to give Music Technology a try.

One thing most people don’t know about him is, “Well I love to tell jokes, I probably have a million jokes I can tell you,” he said. 

Outside of school, Greco enjoys skiing, which he’s been doing since he was three years old. One thing Greco likes most about the sport is that “you can go super fast, and I like putting on the goggles and just going,” he said.

His favorite place to ski is at the Northstar California Resort, in Truckee, California. “I’ve gone too many times I [can’t even] count,” he said. One of the main reasons Greco finds the resort particularly special is because of its ideal skiing terrain.

Greco also likes to ski around Christmas, as his family often visits Sunriver around that time of year.

Overall, as Greco looks ahead into his future at La Salle one of his main goals is to “make more friends, make it an enjoyable experience, and I’m pretty sure it will be,” he said.