Senior Gustavo Gullien
Q: What does being recognized in the National Hispanic Recognition Program mean to you?
A: “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s cool but it’s just one of those things that doesn’t really matter.”
Q: How did you find out? How did you feel?
A: “Oh, dude that was a funny one. So I got this email from a college saying ‘Congratulations,’ before I got the email from the actual program. It was like ‘Congratulations on being a scholar.’ I was kind of skeptical, because obviously it wasn’t the actual program, it was some random college. It was pretty funny.”
Q: What did you do to help improve your test scores leading up to it? What does it take to get the award?
A: “I was in the PSAT team, which I think prepared me pretty well. I don’t know, I just pick up things faster than most people.”
Q: What are your college and career plans?
A: “I plan on majoring in electrical engineering with a minor in physics. University of Texas at Arlington would be ideal to begin [with] because they have a good engineering program. I like math, the number stuff, and engineering is all about that. They make pretty good money which is also what I’m looking for in a career.”
Q: What activities are you involved in at school? Anything outside of school?
A: “I’m in StuCo but that’s about it. I work at Walmart.”
Q: How will this award affect your life/future?
A: “I don’t know but I think it’ll look good on my college applications.”
Q: What has been your biggest obstacle academically? Any specific class? How did you overcome it?
A: “I suck at writing essays, and I mean, I haven’t really overcome it. I [just] try.”
Q: Who in your life has helped you reach this point? How did they help you?
A: “I don’t know, I just feel like because I’m naturally smarter, I can’t really let anyone down, because I have this gift, this talent.”
Q: What is your advice to others hoping to be National Merit Scholars?
A: “I don’t know if she’ll still be around but Mrs. Fieszel was really good at helping us understand the different math [concepts] and Mrs. Squibb was also really good. They’re both the teachers that were teaching the PSAT team. They’re pretty good teachers.”
Q: What class/outside of school tutoring prepared you the most?
A: “The PSAT team was the only thing I really took. I didn’t do any other prep. I took pre-cal and that kind of helped.”
Q: Do you have any good study tips for the standardized tests?
A: “Just practice. You just reuse the same formulas.”