Aguilar, Garcia are top scholars in Davies Tech Class of 2024
LINCOLN – The best way to describe the difference in final weighted grade point average between Davies Tech students Ryan DeLeon Aguilar and Brianna Garcia is this: Miniscule.
Garcia, of North Providence, discovered back in January that she had produced a 4.45 GPA through her first two quarters of her senior year, but that Aguilar had managed a 4.49, a scant four-hundredths of a point above.
That minute amount gave Aguilar the valedictorian honors for the Patriots’ Class of 2024, and Garcia had to settle for the salutatorian laurel.
“Oh, I knew it was close, but I’m not mad at all; I’m happy Ryan got first,” said Garcia, a Pre-Engineering major at Davies. “All I could think of was my sophomore year, when I got an 80 in an English class. I thought, ‘If only I got an 85 or 90.’”
Added Aguilar, a Johnston resident: “She was telling me about it, and I was thinking, ‘That’s crazy!’ When I was a sophomore, I learned about my ranking, and at that time, I was No. 2 and she was No. 1; we were battling for first place, and over time I kept trying to push myself to try to get the highest score I could my junior year, and that’s when I earned the top spot.
“I’ve had this mentality of pushing myself academically very hard since elementary school. My parents used to push me and support me, so I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to try my best to be the best student I can be. I did that because my parents never finished high school, so I wanted to be one who had success in high school. I figured if I pushed myself then, I could push myself in college or in any career I wished to pursue.”
If one thing’s a given, both Aguilar and Garcia share the same types of discipline and motivation it takes to succeed in academics, but they also bring them to other facets of their lives. Both earned status in the National, Rhode Island and National Technical honor societies
and represented the school’s Music Club (both are flutists).
Just recently, Aguilar discovered that he had won the gold medal in the Medical Math category at the SkillsUSA Rhode Island State Championships, and will now represent his family, school and state at the SkillsUSA Nationals event in Atlanta between June 24-28.
“It’s very cool; I think it’s going to be a really good experience for me,” said Aguilar, the son of proud parents Carlos DeLeon and Rudith Aguilar. “I’m nervous, but also excited to go. I want to do the best I can. I’ve been studying math a lot, and I’m going to keep studying because I want to do well in the competition.”
While attending high school, he’s also been taking classes at New England Tech; he says he’s already accumulated about 40 college credits, and he’s taking another five multiple-credit courses now.
As for his future, he already knows he will continue his academic endeavors at New England Tech, as he wants to study nursing.
“After I earn my Bachelor’s, I’d really like to go to medical school,” he said. “I’m honestly thinking about Brown. My family isn’t in the medical field, but when I was younger, my older brother, Robert, was diagnosed with diabetes; he was at the hospital and suffering terribly. He had really high blood sugar, so I’ve thought since then that I want to help people get through those conditions.”
When asked what he’ll miss most about Davies, he didn’t hesitate.
“Creating friendships and learning with them, especially my classmates in Health Careers,” he said. “My freshman year was the COVID year, so I didn’t really talk to anyone because I couldn’t. My sophomore year? I was talking to everybody in Health Careers; we’d talk and laugh. I think that’s what I’ll remember most is learning with them, growing up with them, confiding in them.”
As for Garcia, the daughter of Salvadore Garcia and Julieta Orozco, she loves her time working on and performing in the “Davies Got Talent!” variety show, but also racked up tons of awards and honors in her time on Jenckes Hill Road.
An accomplished flutist, she’s captured four R.I. Music Educators’ Association Solo and Ensemble medals, including three excellent one superior, which is the best one can get; various shop certifications; and she is also now a certified FANUC operator, meaning she can operate an industrial robotic arm. She learned that while taking a course at New England Tech this past fall.
Garcia also spent four years as a R.I. Philharmonic Music School Wind Ensemble Winds, which is the most advanced youth wind ensemble, and was the third chair as a junior. She’s also been in the RIMEA Senior All-State Band, competed in the SkillsUSA R.I. Championships in Robotics & Automation as a sophomore.
She’s taken part in the Young Entrepreneurs of Providence program at Brown, did a Prepare RI internship where she served as a teacher’s assistant in a summer school program for struggling students and works in her family business.
Garcia is still undecided where she wants to attend college, but does know she wants to major in electrical engineering or astronomy while minoring in music performance.
“I’m thinking about going to URI, but I’m not sure yet,” he said. “I’m interested in electrical engineering because I’ve learned I really enjoy the circuitry, solving potential problems; I also like the idea of assembling something, and the math aspects of it.
“As for school, I’m really going to miss all my friends, seeing them every day and joking around with them,” he continued. “We’ve had more fun. I’ll also miss all of my extracurricular activities.”