WILEYNI CABA, Contributing Writer
Every year a student is picked to represent the graduating class. This year, Jaiden Lieberman was awarded the honor of representing the graduating Class of 2024.
What advice would you give to younger students?
My advice would be to truly soak up the time that you have left in high school. As cliche as it sounds, you truly don’t realize how crucial these years of your life are because it’s the foundation of how you grow as a person and how you want to live the rest of your life.
If you could give one piece of advice or knowledge to yourself as a
freshman, what would it be?
It would be to not be afraid to take a leap of faith and go out of my comfort zone. While I was able to grow more confidence by my junior year; when I was first a freshman I was sheltered at home because of Covid and I didn’t allow myself to take a leap of faith and try new things or branch out to see what different things I could potentially be interested in.
Who inspired/encouraged/guided you throughout your journey at NBTHS? I was fortunate enough to have so many people to guide me through my journey of high school. The most influential people were Mrs.Pendleton, Mrs.Wright, Mrs.Pineiro, and Mrs.Doyle. These phenomenal ladies not only helped guide me towards things that I was passionate about, but also helped me develop skills that are going to better my future. Doyle was the best coach that I could have ever had, she truly helped me develop as a cheerleader and always made me feel like I had the potential to be better, along with having given us a fantastic new coach (Coach Short) who has taken the team to another level. Mrs.Pendelton, Mrs.Wright, and Mrs.Pineiro exposed me to DECA and SGO altered my time at NBTHS. Without these amazing organizations, I don’t think I would’ve flourished as a student the way I did. These three teachers were always there with open arms and endless opportunities for me to become my best self. SGO showed me my love and passion for organizing and planning events that bring people together and DECA showed me business skills that I didn’t even know I had. The combination of their help truly helped me to figure out what I wanted to do with my future.
What are your goals during and after college? During my time at college I am hoping to use my resources to ensure the most successful future. I plan to take the opportunity to study abroad, take internships, and seek further education such as getting my Masters and PhD in my intended field of work.
What college are you planning to attend and what will be your major? I am planning to go to Rutgers University at the New Brunswick campus as a member of the Honors Program. I am planning on majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business Administration.
What inspired you to want the honor of Senior Speaker? While being able to be the senior speaker is an honor in itself, I feel that with how well-rounded and involved I’ve been in this school I’ve been able to truly see each aspect of our great school. I feel that I have the ability to express all sides of NBTHS and provide a speech that reflects how influential the school has been on not only me, but all of it’s students.
Do you regret NOT doing anything in life so far? I regret not seeing how I could flourish more in an athletic light. I feel that due to cheer being a passion of mine since I was seven and always being one to push myself to be the best in my academics, I never really let myself imagine the possibilities of any other sports that I could’ve done well at. I wish that I had gone out of my comfort zone and seen how I would do in sports like track and field. I had always been fascinated by the sport, especially high jumps, but I didn’t want to break out of my comfort zone. While I did try other sports outside of school, track is always something I wish I could’ve gone back in time and participated in.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I see myself with my Bachelors, Masters in Industrial Psych, and possibly a Doctorate as well. With all of those accomplishments, I would have moved to Boston and started working with BayState IO to start my journey as an Industrial/ Organizational Psychologist.
What was your favorite memory of your time at NBTHS? My favorite memory would have to be between my time in California at this year's ICDC DECA competition and this year's Edison football game. ICDC was one of the best times I’ve had in my life and I got to do it with amazing people that I hope to stay connected with forever. The Edison game was just so rewarding because I knew that those boys deserved and wanted that win to avenge all the boys last year who sadly lost to them in our final game for the 2022-2023 season. It was such a great game and I loved to see how happy everyone was after the win.
Do you have any advice for upcoming seniors (Class of 2025)? The only advice that I can give to the upcoming seniors is that while life is so unclear, everything happens for a reason. We’ve grown up with plans and thoughts of how our college application experiences would go, but it’s just so unclear. So trust the process, have faith in yourself and your abilities, and know that your experience is what you make of it.
What did you use as motivation to write your speech? When writing my speech I took into account my experiences in high school from freshman to senior year along with the enriching history of our school and how we’ve grown as a school community. I was motivated to make my speech a representation of all the gratitude we should have for this school because of what it’s done for our future. Without forgetting to take into account that there were trials for many of us, we have to acknowledge there were many triumphs, and we as the 50th class should be proud of that because it’s something that no one can take away from us.
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