Q & A: Daniel Bach, Syosset H.S. Valedictorian

Daniel Bach is Syosset High School's valedictorian for the class of 2011. He was named a, and graduated with a 100.0 GPA. Bach will attend Cooper Union in the fall.

Q: What were your favorite classes and programs at Syosset?

A: I’ve always been into math, science courses, and engineering. The technology department, as well - I want to go into engineering,  because of that. I like designing things, building things.

I’ve done all of the extracurricular stuff. The Science Olympiad team (Captain), the Robotics team. I was also on the Quiz Bowl team (President - the quiz bowl team advanced to the third round of ). Our Science Olympiad team went to the state level and placed fourth.

Q: What are your college plans?

A: I’m going to Cooper Union – it’s a school in NYC. They have three schools, and engineering is the largest. The whole school is only like 1,000 people – it’s pretty small.

I really love Aerospace Engineering – it’s a specialization within Mechanical Engineering. Right now I think I really want to work within the space industry. In college, I’m hoping to confirm what I already know, about my passion for engineering. I’ll hopefully end up going to graduate school, and there I will end up specializing in a certain field.

Q: What other schools were you looking at?

A: I mean, I applied to MIT and got deferred. I applied early. I got into Cooper Union early, so I never found out if I would have gotten in to MIT. I mean, MIT is expensive, Cooper Union is free. The difference in price - it wasn’t really worth it. I applied to other schools, but those were the two I was really aiming for.  

Q: What personal accomplishments are you most proud of?

A: Well, I just received a $10,000 scholarship and paid internship for Grumman in Bethpage for three summers, which I’m excited about. I will get to work for an engineer - it should be a great experience.

Q: Any personal projects you're most proud of?

A: I’ve been working on a research project –building a hybrid electric wheelchair. Basically the idea is, some people prefer manual wheelchairs, because it’s independent and stuff. But they can have trouble by themselves going up an incline. So the way the wheelchair works is it will generate electricity and store it as you are pushing along and then basically you would have automatic power for a period of time. It would be power self-sufficient - you wouldn’t have to plug it into a wall. I’m working on the prototype, but I didn’t really get a chance to finish it in school year, so I’ll have to finish it as I go along to Cooper Union. The main thing is I’m getting from the project is experience. I do want to finish it, because I don’t like to give up on something once I’ve started it. But it’s not like my primary focus moving forward.

Q: What will you miss most from Syosset?

A: The extracurriculars. There are good things about regular classes – there are always great teachers. But the extracurriculars, they kind of save you from the required stuff, all the SAT’s, the testing, etc. It’s more independent. The teams I was working on were with students. I think Syosset has a particularly good technology department, which I spent a good amount of time in the past couple of years, and the school supports us, which is crucial, and the students, working hard together. I’ll miss a lot of things. I had a lot of older friends a year older than me, they went to college, but I still see them a lot.

Q: Any favorite teachers?

A: I hate to say, because I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out. All of them were great. Mr. Diers, who helped me with the wheelchair project. Mr. Belanger, a chemistry teacher – he’s just a great teacher, really smart guy. I think a lot of students admire him. Mr. Bickford, the Science Olympiad team organizer. He’s really committed and cares about his students. Mrs. Esslinger, my English teacher who showed me literature and always helped me out. She also helped me with my speech at graduation.

Q: Favorite Class?

A: Robotics, which is like an extracurricular, but it’s a class. Everyday we worked on robots as a team. So I guess that’s one. I definitely also enjoyed physics. But just for the value and enjoyable aspects, it would probably be robotics.

Q: Do you look up to anyone as a role model?

A: Well, I do Kempo Martial Arts, it’s a big part of my life. I’ve been going to Kempo Karate in Hicksville for 10 years now, and I train twice a week. I teach classes to kids. It’s something that has helped me a lot in school – I have learned discipline and respect. My older brother got me into it, and I just stuck with it. My instructor, Sensei Joe, is definitely someone I look to as a role model.

Q: What is something people may not know about you?

A: I’ve been working at McDonald’s for about a year now. It’s just a steady income job. Once I go to college I’ll stop working there. It’s not terrible, I mean it’s not fun, but it’s also good experience dealing with people. I’ve also tutored a little bit.

Q: How did your parents help you in school?

A: I know a lot of friends of mine whose parents push them all the time. They care, but they let me manage my own schoolwork and schedule, something which I really appreciate.

Q: How do you feel about being named valedictorian?

A: It’s a honor. I mean, it was pretty close. I don’t know. People say “oh you're the smartest." I don’t like the word “smart” because there are so many different types of smart. Just because I did better in classes, doesn’t mean I’m, you know, better. It’s an honor, but it doesn’t make me better than anyone else.

Q: What was your Graduation Speech About?

A: It was kind of about finding a passion – finding one, and keeping it. There are a lot of people that kind of just have a good time and stop caring about other stuff. In high school, you know, sometimes they’ll tell us, ‘do this, do that,' but there is never much of a reason why. But then I kind of started to find a passion – when I started with the Science Olympiad team and other stuff, it was what I wanted to be doing. It was something I had a goal in front of me to strive for. I kind of found that to find a passion, and to follow it, is one of the most important things.