Speaker 1: 0:00

This episode sponsored by Kathy L Wall State Farm Agency Learn more at kathylwallcom. And Tequila Comos luxury tequila refined Ask for it by name at Pogo, Spex or your favorite liquor store. And Stewart Arango Oral Surgery Learn more at saoralsurgeonscom. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'm Nellie Schutow, and it is graduation time. It is Tomorrow, is graduation for a lot of people out there, definitely for Highland Park, and we are getting ready.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Yeah, and today our guest is Benjamin Martin, the valedictorian of HP. I know I'm so excited.

Speaker 1: 0:41

We've featured a lot of kids from the schools over the years, with a strong focus on athletes, the arts, different things, but this is our first time to ever have the valedictorian.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Yeah, and he's so bright and he uses his words so well. I just think he's charming.

Speaker 1: 0:57

He shares what it took to get to this point and he shares experience of when he first got the news that he was the valedictorian.

Speaker 2: 1:11

So you're going to love Benjamin. For any of you out there who have kids who are in TAG or are gifted in any way, or if you would like to get them on that path, he's got some great advice and just his story is inspiring.

Speaker 1: 1:22

I wanted to give a personal thank you to our good friend and show sponsor, kathy Elwall State Farm Agency. We have known Kathy for more than 15 years and there is no person we trust more when it comes to insurance than Kathy Elwall. Kathy is always available to help you find the right insurance for your family needs, whether it's covering your home, auto or providing a life insurance policy tailored to the unique needs of families in Highland Park. My family trusts Kathy with our insurance and we hope you will too. Please visit kathylwallcom to learn more and let her know that Martha from the Bubble Lounge sent you Benjamin, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3: 1:57

Thank you, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:58

And a big congratulations for being the valedictorian. I am so impressed and I've always wanted to know like how do you find out? Does somebody give you a phone call? Do you get called to the principal's office? How does this all play out?

Speaker 3: 2:12

Well, it was one day I think it was September the last year and they would call everyone into the office and you just walk down there on like your third period, and they had this scary piece of paper. Everyone would be given oh, and I was fine, but then it was just like a number.

Speaker 2: 2:29

You know, it's a digit, like a rank.

Speaker 3: 2:31

Yeah, yeah, they didn't have a trumpet or anything.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Well, no, but you must know, like I was number two, like in my class, and like it was a fraction, a fraction that would make you right. So you must have been like I want to be valedictorian, I'm close. Obviously, you probably know your competitors. It was probably like 10 kids who were almost the same level. Right, I'm guessing, right.

Speaker 3: 2:57

Yeah, I think that there were a couple kids maybe, but honestly our grade did not, don't know, it wasn't hyper competitive, it was. It's kind of like I really like the kids in the top 10. They're not like all these like uh kind of insane students or something right like they're really smart. Uh, there's a lot like athletes and kids in the orchestra. So, um, just because I'm like the classes I was taking, I think that it wasn't like a battle, okay, like some terrible you know, like, yeah, it was just, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 3:31

A friendly competition of sorts?

Speaker 3: 3:32

Yes, I was calm about it, yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Yeah. Well, when you found out that you were the one, what was your reaction?

Speaker 3: 3:42

I folded the paper up and I went to math.

Speaker 2: 3:46

Did you skip to class? Or do a little dance a little victory dance A little strut in your step, push to my shoulders.

Speaker 3: 3:55

Yeah like Janelle. What's that? Giselle, the model, or whatever?

Speaker 1: 3:58

Yes, you do a little, strut A little strut, a little runway walk down the halls of Highland Park.

Speaker 2: 4:03

I love it, yeah, well obviously you must have taken a lot of AP classes to have a 4.7.

Speaker 3: 4:09

Yeah, wow.

Speaker 2: 4:11

Okay, so did you take everything? I mean, are you more of like a math and science guy or an English guy or all of the above? I would imagine?

Speaker 3: 4:20

I think that just the classes that they have at HP, like it's very science heavy. So, my course load was, I think, skewed to like STEM for my AP. So I didn't end up taking things I think like AP seminar. But yeah, like there's a lot of classes, I definitely didn't do them all and some I think I would have enjoyed, but I liked the ones I did. Yeah, it was a lot of STEM.

Speaker 2: 4:43

Well, now you're going to college, so you get to do whatever you want. Yeah, study whatever you want, you know.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Yeah, and so we've talked about this before the show, but can you share with our listeners where you're going to go to college?

Speaker 3: 4:53

I'll be going to Princeton in the fall.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Very impressive, that's amazing and such a beautiful school. Like I, Princeton is the most elegant of the Ivy Leagues and I'm an Ivy Leaguer too, but I just think it is the most elegant by far and I love the whole dining club, or supper clubs, what do they call the supper clubs.

Speaker 3: 5:09

Yeah, the eating clubs, eating clubs.

Speaker 2: 5:10

sorry. Well, you know there was some sort of cuisine word in there, but I think it's such a pretty school and I imagine you visited.

Speaker 3: 5:19

Yeah, yeah, multiple times.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Okay, and your quick flight away.

Speaker 3: 5:25

Ish Right A flight in a train and then a train, okay, but no, it's really pleasant. Up there I think there's a lot of like incredible schools and a lot of them are really similar. But I think I liked it's like not in the middle of nowhere, but it's like it's pleasant. Like it's a little bit quiet, but it's pleasant. It's a little bit quiet. You can walk in this grass and stuff.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Yeah, you're definitely going to be in your element there, so I would imagine the road wasn't completely easy. There's probably some obstacles and challenges that you had to overcome along the way.

Speaker 3: 5:57

Yeah, I mean, I think that it varied a lot over time and it wasn't like every day was this terrible thing. But yeah, some classes were demanding, I think, especially in my sophomore and junior year. In sophomore year I was taking, I think, five APs, where normally it would be like one or two, so that's like Latin and comp, sci and chemistry, and that would sometimes translate to like two or three hours of work each night for a week like an intensive um. But it wasn't. Yeah, I think it was. It was more about the, the consistency than the individual moments of like great action. So it was more about just four years of taking classes.

Speaker 1: 6:50

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Speaker 2: 7:46

Did you have time? I can imagine that you would have but to do extracurriculars outside of your course load.

Speaker 3: 7:53

Yeah, I'm not in a sport but I did do a couple things. So I was involved with Latin in our school. It was kind of complicated but there were these Latin competitions and then also Boy Scouts and a couple of like service things. But yeah, I think that my I didn't have some like massive like time crunch every day. I had more like a loose schedule and I think that enabled me like the flexibility to kind of manage my classes a little bit more than some kids could if they're in like band or orchestra.

Speaker 1: 8:32

Right where you're doing it like every single day and you have a set schedule. You were kind of self-paced and had the competitions that would come up and things like that.

Speaker 3: 8:40

Yeah, because I know kids that would get home at like 10 pm and then they immediately fall asleep and it's like I'm not like smarter than them. They just have a different schedule.

Speaker 2: 8:49

A different focus as well.

Speaker 3: 8:51

Yeah, sure, so can you share any memorable moments that you had while you were at Highland Park. I don't know about freshman year, because that was virtual, but I think—.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Oh, wow, I forgot about that. Yeah, it's not that long ago, yeah.

Speaker 3: 9:07

Yeah, I don't know. We made a couple movies. There were some video projects and that was pretty fun. I think that was like the biggest extent of like creative control you would have at hp like my english classes and at the end of calculus actually we did a music video, so I thought that was fun, but I don't know. It's less about like there wasn't some crazy day, other than maybe the costume week, where I dressed up as oh the senior dress-up week. I think I did Spongebob one day.

Speaker 2: 9:42

And that was fun. Nothing says your age more than Spongebob.

Speaker 3: 9:46

It's true, though.

Speaker 2: 9:48

I heard they're going to make a musical of SpongeBob and I was like I would love to see it. Just because, you know, I grew up I mean, I didn't grow up, my son grew up watching it and I was watching it behind him, you know.

Speaker 3: 9:58

Yeah, I think it's for everyone honestly.

Speaker 2: 10:00

Yes, very smart, it's my gospel, yeah.

Speaker 3: 10:04

But yeah, it was more like a bunch of little moments. I think of people, rather than some insane day.

Speaker 2: 10:13

Did you ever consider going to a different school? I'm just curious. Or were you just happy in the Highland Park? You know it's a great school system. I just wondered if at some point you thought, oh, I want to do something else.

Speaker 3: 10:25

And we're lucky to have you still. I think I did in middle school. It's like I don't know it was such a large class and especially if you're trying to be a really there's a lot of great private schools in Texas, but I think that HP is kind of it's an exception. It's like this outstanding public school and it's really unique Like it's like this outstanding public school and it's really unique Like people move here just for the school and I wanted to take advantage of that.

Speaker 2: 10:57

Were you worried about standing out? I'm just joking, since you're the top of the class.

Speaker 3: 11:03

I don't know. I think that in like the TAG programs which I'm in, like, there's a much, there's like a more focused amount of kids, so I'll have multiple classes of the same people and it's kind of like a little internal community, so I think that was uh pretty healthy, like it wasn't this massive sea of people.

Speaker 2: 11:23

Think about schools like allen or whatever yeah, you could walk down the hallway and not recognize a single face, every single day yeah, which is terrifying to me.

Speaker 3: 11:30

Yeah, um it's like a, a pigsty or whatever. I I think I prefer hp yeah, but yeah no it's.

Speaker 1: 11:39

It's been good yeah well, do you have any advice for the underclassmen that might want to follow in your path and do the same thing?

Speaker 3: 11:47

uh, maybe don't I think, it's. I don't know if it's necessarily because I didn't I didn't actually shoot to be like valedictorian, like it wasn't like one day I put my my hand down, you know. I put my finger down on the table and I said I'm gonna get it. I just um, I just worked hard in school and ended up happening.

Speaker 3: 12:13

But, it wasn't like I was shooting for a specific rank. So I think it's kind of better for people to form habits that they feel comfortable with and healthy and just kind of be willing to adapt. And if something is like some people, um, they don't fulfill their potential and they feel like they missed out or they worked harder. But a lot of kids to hp, um, they'll stack up with classes that are just kind of unreasonable, like it's not even like I'm smart enough. It just doesn't make sense. So I think that you have to understand that you are different from other people and account for those differences with your course load. But, yeah, just form healthy habits. Good sleep, that is key. Don't study my friends for our sleep habits, but yeah, I think, focus on your health.

Speaker 2: 13:06

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Speaker 3: 14:08

uh, or both or combo, or do you just magically know what you don't have to study? I was always the kind of person who's a crammer, or both or a combo, or do you just magically know and you don't have to study. I was always jealous of those people.

Speaker 3: 14:15

No, I don't. I'm not a wizard, unfortunately. I wish I was, but I normally study the night before, I think, although if I think something's really significant, I might start a few days earlier, but I'm pretty simple with it. I think I definitely could have formed better habits. Sometimes it meant doing history notes at 1 am every night for five days in a row and I didn't need to do that. But, yeah, I was kind of pushing it in a way, but not studying three minutes while they were passing out the tests.

Speaker 2: 14:49

Okay, I'm sure there are plenty who do. Yeah, I know some people like that. If you don't know it by now, you're not going to know it in three minutes.

Speaker 1: 14:57

So during high school, those four years is always a big time of growth and change for kids. How do you feel like that? You've changed since freshman year and I'm so sorry that you had COVID year in your freshman year. Ooh I, and I'm so sorry that you had COVID year in your freshman year, I mean it was just an awful time for everyone, but especially the kids.

Speaker 3: 15:18

Yeah, I think that was a lot. When I think about sophomore year, I was a lot more reserved. I mean we all had our masks on and I think over time I've probably just loosened up a little bit. But it's complicated. I don't think I've. I don't know if I've changed fundamentally since then, but I do feel more comfortable.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Well good.

Speaker 2: 15:49

That's a good thing, and you obviously chose Princeton, but I imagine you apply to a lot of schools. Know, you obviously chose princeton, but I imagine you apply to a lot of schools. And I was just curious when you're applying to schools, were you looking at both um state schools and private schools? Were you only looking at private schools? Were you looking to get out of texas just to experience something different? You know what? What drove you to princeton? Or did you just say I want to go to the best school I get into?

Speaker 3: 16:11

I uh, I definitely I was was applying to public schools in UT because they're actually pretty incredible, but I did want a like small college experience, so more like liberal arts universities and private schools. So I applied to a couple on the East Coast for that and I think Princeton was this nice. It's just kind of like a. I think it's pleasant, like it's when you have studies and classes that are very challenging. It's nice to have an environment that kind of facilitates being calm, you know instead of a big urban city or you know, yeah Well, tomorrow is the big day, graduation.

Speaker 1: 17:00

how are you feeling about it? Are you? Do you have mixed emotions? Are you excited, looking forward to it?

Speaker 3: 17:06

um, I I'm definitely nervous. I think I'm not like shaking in my my boots, but I want to. I want to make my speech good.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Right, that's important to you. Like what? What type of message are you hoping to convey to everybody?

Speaker 3: 17:26

I, I don't want to. I don't know Like, Are you still writing? I'm writing a little bit. Yeah, actually I don't know if. I'm supposed a little bit. Yeah, actually I don't know if I'm supposed to say that that's okay. Actually, officially, I finished it two weeks ago maybe.

Speaker 2: 17:43

But you're rewriting. That's part of the writing process.

Speaker 3: 17:46

Tell the principal, I finished it two weeks ago. No, I'm kidding.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Mr Gilbert, he's done with it. He's good to go.

Speaker 3: 17:53

Yeah, I don't know, I want. I want people to kind of chill out. Is there like a?

Speaker 2: 18:00

little bit like a. So in the tv world when you pitch something there's a tagline like a one, one sentence that sort of sums it up. Do you have any like a sentence or a couple words, a phrase that you feel like sums up what your message is? Or do you not want to say that because you're about to give the speech?

Speaker 3: 18:17

Oh, I might want to. I don't know if there is one.

Speaker 2: 18:19

Hold on to it, okay.

Speaker 3: 18:21

And if I try to explain it I'll end up just giving the speech, I guess.

Speaker 2: 18:24

Okay, don't give the speech. We don't want you to give it away.

Speaker 1: 18:30

Hold on to it.

Speaker 2: 18:31

I was just looking. What are you going to study in college?

Speaker 3: 18:35

I'm actually undecided right now, so I don't know.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Well, you've had to make way too many decisions, so you can just hold off on that for a bit.

Speaker 2: 18:43

Yeah, so obviously, when it comes to education, parents play a big role in influencing you. How did your parents influence your education?

Speaker 3: 18:52

So I think my parents emphasized education from the very start. I have older brothers, so I got to see kind of them enter into middle school and high school before I did, and so I was always kind of thinking about you know, when I was in fourth grade I would be hearing about ninth grade, and when I was in ninth I would be hearing about college. So it's like I would kind of get to look ahead a little bit and I think that was helpful and I really like I would. I would kind of get to look ahead a little bit and I think that was helpful and I I really liked my parents. Actually, I don't think they're um, they're not like they don't have iron fists or anything.

Speaker 3: 19:24

They weren't, uh, you know, my mom actually like she's not checking my grades that much or anything. There isn't, um, some massive uh like force, but I think that they kind of they gave me an environment that was very positive and supportive and kind of let me choose for myself what I wanted and I ended up just sticking to.

Speaker 3: 19:49

You know, my studies over time, you know, and was consistent, I guess, so ended up like this you know, and was consistent, I guess, so it ended up like this it sounds like it's just who you are. Yeah, I guess. So I mean, I think I could have gone down a different route, I guess, imagine alternate timeline. But yeah, it wasn't, I guess it felt natural.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Yeah, sounds like it. So it sounds like you had a very supportive environment. Your parents sound awesome and what I like the best is that you went to UP Elementary, which is where Nellie and I kids went as well. So tell us about your experiences kind of starting out with kindergarten.

Speaker 3: 20:25

So I actually Do you remember?

Speaker 1: 20:28

That was a long time ago.

Speaker 3: 20:30

Well, I didn't say this, but I wasn't in UP in kindergarten. I was at a.

Speaker 1: 20:37

Then we can cut that part yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 20:39

Um, I was at like a little church thing oh so I guess we should start it okay.

Speaker 2: 20:45

No, that's fine, you can talk about this church.

Speaker 1: 20:47

You know, I start why I started off okay, bring it up again, martha, we'll just do that. So tell us about your experience at up elementary, because that's where nelly and i's kids both went.

Speaker 3: 20:58

We love that school yeah, so I was in, I went to my local church in pre-k and kindergarten and then eventually, I think, my parents wanted something a little bit bigger for me and I transferred to up in second grade and and I think immediately it actually was like I didn't feel like you know the new kid, or really lost. It was a pretty good fit pretty soon and I yeah, I connected people pretty early. I think that some of the kids I met in my second grade classroom of you know 20 kids I still talk to today.

Speaker 2: 21:39

And it sounds like you knew early on that you needed a challenge in school, right did you? Did you recognize that? Or was it really your parents, or both of you all?

Speaker 3: 21:46

uh, yeah, I think I was, you know, when I was in first grade.

Speaker 3: 21:49

I guess a little bored by uh, some of the activities that we're doing, it wasn't like some. There was this massive gap between me and other people. Now I'm just like a normal. Yeah, like I was put into TAG and like their grade and we weren't doing calculus or anything, we were just doing silly little projects and that was fun. Yeah, it was kind of just a natural development. It wasn't about you know the grades, the GPA immediately. It was just kind of finding people and being put in classes where I was comfortable talking about the more maybe nerdy things.

Speaker 2: 22:31

Yeah, more intellectual, yeah, more goofy.

Speaker 3: 22:34

You know whatever intellectual meant in third grade.

Speaker 2: 22:37

You know relative but it kind of does, because I don't know, I don't think of intellectual as being like. To me, being an intellectual is a choice. Right, like you, you can be born smart, super bright, right, or you can be an intellectual. You can be born super bright and be an intellectual, or you can become an intellectual because you really care about learning. So, to me, being an intellectual is about this desire to learn more and to know things, and it sounds like you were like that at an early age.

Speaker 3: 23:00

Yeah, I think my family is a massive influence. We're very talkative, we talk every day. I think. Sometimes it'll be like 7 pm. I'm like, what did I do for the past four hours? It's like, oh, I was just sitting on the couch talking to my brother and it can be something totally stupid or meaningless or something very lofty and philosophical, because they're philosophy majors and not that that's. You know, it's still goofy to me yes but no, it's cool.

Speaker 3: 23:36

yeah, I think that I just yeah, I think they brought out this side of me that's a little bit curious and ended up meeting people at UP eventually, the middle school and the high school that were very similar to me in that way.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Well, how did your older brother influence you, because I understand he's at Princeton as well.

Speaker 3: 24:03

Yeah, I think. Well, he's five years older than me and he's a very. I have two older brothers. They're both. I really like them. I think they're good people. But we would, you know, of course, when we were younger, we'd get into meaningless little spats about nothing.

Speaker 3: 24:25

Completely normal Bunk bed rights and I guess that sharpened my mind for the fourth grade classroom. You know, having to debate with these older boys about meaningless little video game controllers and who gets to be player one. And I guess that translated into my English classes and even my math classes, I think.

Speaker 1: 24:51

So tell us about transitioning into middle school, because to this day I have never heard anyone say that middle school were the best years of their lives. It's an emotionally challenging time. Everyone is maturing and figuring out who they want to be. How was your experience in middle school?

Speaker 3: 25:10

My middle school experience, I think, was similar to some other people, but different in a way. I think it had a lot of ups and downs, sure. So some years are better than others and I actually think I had a very good middle school experience. I felt comfortable with my situation in middle school. I don't know, I think that it was just kind of middle school. It's just weird. It's like a quiet phase before the storm.

Speaker 3: 25:48

That's a good way to put it this kind of like culture brewing and people that they're starting to think like high schoolers. And they're starting to think like high schoolers and they're starting to prepare for responsibilities Even though you kind of feel like phantom responsibilities, like they're not actually super duper real but it's like a practice zone and I think I had a lot of time to think in middle school and it was kind of it was kind of peaceful. You know, I have this. I guess it was kind of like pre-COVID. I have this like in a weird way, almost like a romantic view of like early eighth grade.

Speaker 3: 26:30

It's kind of like doing a little bit of and there was some work, but it's like a lot of free time, just kind of think. And I think high school in a way some people miss out is there. They're always learning and doing classes, but they're almost spending so much time focusing on like bettering themselves that there isn't a pause to kind of breathe. And I think you get that earlier in life and you get it later in life but people miss out a little bit and I had that in middle school.

Speaker 2: 27:02

Sure, so you had a very peaceful middle school experience, which most kids don't say. So we we can't go and pitch a coming of age American pie or porkies about you now. That was our plan, right, were there Absolutely Like when.

Speaker 1: 27:16

Nellie and I were pregnant, there was this huge push to you should listen to classical music so your kid can hear it in the womb, because that's going to make them extra smart. Remember that.

Speaker 3: 27:27

It was so silly.

Speaker 1: 27:29

Remember all those DVDs, baby Einstein, that they were supposed to watch when they were babies. That was really going to really make them smart. Did your parents have you watch any of those?

Speaker 3: 27:40

I think my parents had me watch Scooby-Doo.

Speaker 2: 27:44

I love Scooby-Doo and that's why you are where you are today?

Speaker 3: 27:47

Yeah, I think so. You have Scooby-Doo, the deductive mind.

Speaker 1: 27:50

Yeah, put that in your speech. Yes, I think parents with five-year-olds.

Speaker 3: 27:54

Now they think like, oh, it's too late, I haven't taught them two languages and piano. I know that's so crazy, but I think I had a more like. I think I had a pretty normal you know early upbringing. It was just kind of you know learning how to read and I got the ABCs down.

Speaker 2: 28:14

And that was yeah, that was the extent of it.

Speaker 1: 28:15

Sure you got those down pretty quickly. Well, this has been so fun having you on the show. You're our first valedictorian ever to be on the podcast, so thank you for being here today.

Speaker 3: 28:23

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2: 28:24

And, by the way, I'm so looking forward to hearing your speech because you choose your words beautifully and the way you express yourself is very incredible, so I'm sure your speech is going to knock them dead.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Thank you. That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson.

Speaker 2: 28:36

And I'm Nellie Schuto, and we'll catch you next time.