Two Seniors Honored For Achievements In and Out of the Classroom

Despite his crowded schedule, Garrett Lam gets to school early a couple days a week to learn ancient Greek with a few classmates and a beloved teacher.

His Wellesley High School senior classmate Daniel Miron is described by teachers as “a rare students who derives legitimate enjoyment from learning.”

The two were honored last week with the Superintendent’s Certificate of Academic Excellence.

Superintendent Bella T. Wong read citations of their achievements at the School Committee meeting, crediting both with being not only exceptional students, but exceptional people.

The following are Wong’s remarks about Lam and Miron.

Garrett Lam 

Self-motivated, introspective, and candid are the words that come to mind to describe Garrett.  I have honestly never met another student who is as deeply curious and genuine in the way he approaches any new piece of knowledge.  Whether discussing philosophy with his friends, mentoring children at a local elementary school, or composing music, Garrett conducts himself with maturity far beyond his seventeen years. 

The most important thing to him is that he live meaningfully according to his own set of values and principals, which he is continually refining.

Academically, Garrett excels in all honors and AP classes earning only A’s. In addition to an entirely full schedule, Garrett elected to arrive early two days per week to study the ancient Greek language with several friends and a beloved teacher.  The sciences and Latin have emerged as Garrett’s favorite classes and just this past summer he was chosen out of hundreds of applicants to complete a paid 35-hour per week internship at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA working on biomedical research.

Outside of academics, music and tennis occupy all of Garrett’s free time.  He actually taught himself how to play the piano over 11 years ago while the French horn is Garrett’s instrument of choice for school based music groups. Just two summers ago he served as a counselor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer program for gifted 4th and 5th graders, a program of which he is a graduate.

Daniel Miron

Fundamentally honest, logical, and principled, Daniel is the rare student who derives legitimate enjoyment from learning.  He challenges himself academically not because it “looks good” but because he wants to learn. Daniel always manages to create opportunities to increase his knowledge base.

Teachers describe Daniel as diligent, intellectually curious, and perceptive with a healthy skepticism.  Daniel thinks for himself and “produces consistently excellent work” as described by his English teacher.  Although Daniel could easily move far beyond his peers in most disciplines, he exhibits intellectual restraint, respecting his classmates and allowing all voices the discussion time they deserve.  His peers sense this humble attitude and feel comfortable turning to Daniel for help. 

Outside of school academics, Daniel is one of the select members of the Eastern Massachusetts division of the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML).

Daniel could easily lose himself in his academic pursuits, spending his free time buried in the science fiction novels that he loves so much or perfecting his piano playing, but Daniel enjoys social interaction too much to let that happen. An active member of the golf team, the student congress, and the seminar day committee, Daniel seeks out ways to interact with and influence his peers.  Daniel also spends time during the summer volunteering at various organizations, one of which holds golf clinics for under-privileged youth.

Although Daniel self identifies as a math and science person, it is difficult to find a subject in which he is not well versed.  Independent and self-motivated, Daniel will bring his positive attitude and his thirst for knowledge with him wherever he may choose to go.