Alvarado, Minaya are Tolman class of 2024’s top scholars
PAWTUCKET – Tolman High’s newest valedictorian never saw the feat coming.
Soon-to-be graduate Natalia Alvarado captured the Class of 2024’s top spot with a weighted GPA of 4.282, just 31 thousandths of a point ahead of salutatorian and fellow genius Britnnie Minaya (4.251).
While the proximity of those grades, naturally through the first semester of their senior year, surprised her, learning she indeed had earned valedictory honors shocked Alvarado.
“I’m going to be completely frank; I had absolutely no clue about what my grades were until the end of my junior year because I really didn’t want to ask,” said Alvarado, the daughter of proud parents Mary Pedron and Guillermo Alvarez. “I didn’t want to know, but as college applications started to come around, I began asking, but only for myself.
“Once I found out I was (No.) 1, I was completely shocked and obviously excited, but I never knew who No. 2 was or how close we were,” she added. “I just didn’t want to worry about that stuff. I just wanted to do my own thing. As a senior, I wasn’t worried about other people’s ranks or how close we were. I just went to school, studied, did my work. I did what I thought was right.”
Ask Alvarado how she succeeded academically at Tolman – actually all through school – and she cited two reasons: Her mom and dad.
“My drive, my ambition, all comes from my parents and my sister,” she said. “My dad is an electrical engineer and my mom owns a paper company, one that does business cards and things like that. They have to be two of the smartest people I know.
“They have worked so hard their entire lives to make sure my sister and I had everything we needed,” she continued. “My sister, Valeria, she graduated from Boston College last year and is now a biologist, so I think we both got it from them.”
Alvarado excelled both in and out of the classroom. She’s been a member of the National Honor Society and Rhode Island Honor Society since her junior year, and she also started all four years for the Tolman (or Tolman/Shea Co-op) girls’ varsity soccer
team that earned state divisional playoff bids her junior and senior campaigns.
As a senior, she and fellow classmate Dylan Brouillette were selected to work as a student liaison for Secretary of State Gregg Amore’s Office.
“I would go to the State House once a month and meet with the secretary of state himself or his team, and we’d learn about civic
engagement and the importance of it,” she said. “We were also asked to complete a community project, and we did a food drive at our school during Christmas.”
Alvarado and Brouillette posted fliers about their holiday drive throughout the school and advertised it during morning announcements, asking students and teachers to drop nonperishable items of food in a big box near the front office.
“We weren’t expecting to get so much food,” she said with a laugh. “We were shocked to see we had to get another box. After, we were trying to figure out where we were going to donate the food. I’m from Venezuela; I moved here when I was eight years old, so I have a real soft spot for my immigrant community so I decided to donate it to Progreso Latino.
“They were so thankful. I reached out to the coordinator and he told md we’d end up helping about 300 families. That was so satisfying.”
Next up for Alvarado is attending Boston University this fall on a significant academic scholarship. She hopes to become a lawyer, a profession she’s dreamt about since she was a little girl.
“I signed up this year for this Law & Legal Preparation course, and it’s an internship,” she said. “Every Monday and Wednesday, I go to Providence and work with a criminal attorney, Angela Lawless. He recently gave me one of her cases, and I summarized all of the evidence. I read it all and summarized it; it was so much work, but also amazing.
“It’s shown me so much about what it takes to be a lawyer. Now I’m trying to decide if I want to be a criminal attorney or go into immigration law.”
Then there’s Minaya, who like Alvarado says she’s driven by her mom, Luz Pena.
“My biggest motivation, and I will say this the rest of my life, is my mother; she moved here from the Dominican Republic to give my brothers and I a better life,” she said. “She did so as a single parent, and I admire her so much. She’s my star. Because of what she did for us, all the sacrifices she made for us to be successful, I didn’t want to let her down so I’d work that much harder on my studies.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.”
Minaya paid her back not only with her salutatorian laurel but a more important gift.
“When I go to college, I want to specialize in dermatology, and that all comes back to my mom, too,” she said. “She has a skin condition called melisma, which is the overproduction of melanin and causes hyper-pigmentation of the skin. Simply put, those are dark spots.
“When I found out she had that condition, I was in eighth grade, but I did hours of research, not just about the products that could best help her but also the ingredients themselves.
I wanted to find the ones that would work for her specifically based on her needs and symptoms.
“I later found out that when my mom met with her dermatologist, she told her what I had done, and she said, ‘You know, these are the same products I was going to suggest you use. Your daughter did all the work.’ That made me feel great.”
So did her time in the National Honor Society, the SAT Prep Club and Student Council. She also interned with the Aesthetic Dental Society through Prepare Rhode Island and volunteered at the Pawtucket Library – and is certified in youth mental health and CPR.
She also has received several awards, among them the 2023 Smith College Book Award; a Certificate of Special Recognition from Gov. Dan McKee; a certificate of excellence in English; and a certificate of achievement for finishing second in her class.
Most of all, Minaya adored playing girls’ varsity soccer for Tolman, a team which she captained as both a junior and senior; this past fall, the Tolman/ Shea Co-op squad made it all the way to the state divisional semis before losing.
She recalled her freshman year, when she and her schoolmates were still distance learning due to the pandemic.
“I felt that was really tough because I wasn’t able to build bonds with fellow students and teachers like you can when you’re in person; I really missed that,” she said. “I did have more time to do my assignments, and that helped, but I missed those bonds most.
“I learned that as school progressed through my sophomore, junior and senior years,” she continued. “Making friends and creating relationships was and is the most important part of school to me. I regret the fact I couldn’t have started sports earlier.”
She currently is choosing between chasing health sciences/pre-med at either Providence College or Boston University. One thing’s for sure: She wants to become a dermatologist, all because of mom.