Name: Derek J. Johnson
Age: 18
School: Peekskill High School, Class of 2011
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Accomplishment: The Eagle Scout and recipient of The President’s Volunteer Service Award will matriculate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Key to Awesomeness:
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For Derek Johnson, the Campus Preview Weekend at the top engineering school in the nation was one of the top experiences of his life.
“CPW completely blew my mind,” said Johnson. “It was four days and three nights completely full with all things MIT.”
The preview of “all things MIT”, of course, encompassed science and engineering - chemistry (making and eating liquid nitrogen ice cream), physics (focusing rays of the sun to set a hot dog on fire), and electrical engineering (making a pickle glow like a light bulb).
Johnson’s high school profile that earned him the acceptance letter from Massachusetts Institute of Technology includes a long list of academic achievements, leadership positions, and extracurricular activities.
In short, the president of the Peekskill High School Class of 2011 is an Eagle Scout with recognitions from honor societies like the New York State Mathematics Honor Society, attended The Carnegie Mellon Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science for two years, and received The President’s (Barack Obama) Volunteer Service Award for his participation in Student Council activities.
Film is another interest of Johnson that he would like to study in college and aspires to write a full motion picture in the future.
“I try to watch at least one movie I have never seen before every day,” said Johnson. “It is a passion that I live for.”
Johnson plans to possibly double major in Computer Science and Comparative Media Studies and apply his education to a position at Apple, Pixar, or any film production company.
Before film making, Johnson will be immersed what he observed as a collaborative academic environment of MIT and get a taste of its students’ tradition of hacking. Hacks at MIT are considered harmless amusing, engineering feats, such as the famed placement of a police car on the school’s dome.
