Editor’s Note: This is the second in the 2015 series of stories about the valedictorians at Suffolk’s five high schools. Check back in the coming days for the other stories in the series.

Lakeland High School’s 2015 valedictorian says he wants to work in national security to help keep Americans safe.

Jeremy Hill, who said he knew at the beginning of the school year he would probably be named Lakeland’s top student — though he didn’t know for sure until about a month ago — will study computer engineering at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

“I wanted to get into national security, and they have a professor — Dr. (Vijayan) Asari — who works directly on research with facial recognition technology, and different things that go into identification with national security,” Hill said.

“Also, I had made it a goal of mine … to try to get out of Hampton Roads, because I have been here my entire childhood.

“I wanted to get away — but I never thought it would be so far away.”

In being named valedictorian, Hill said he’s happy all the hard work has paid off. “I don’t think anyone in my immediate family was surprised with the news, but I know my grandmother and aunts and uncles, they had no idea it was coming,” he said.

Hill came to Lakeland after completing middle school at St. Matthew’s Catholic School in Virginia Beach.

“I was actually almost overwhelming,” he said of suddenly finding himself in a large public high school. “The middle school wing at St. Matthew’s was probably a third of our cafeteria here. … You walk into Lakeland, the first thing you see are the open windows and the huge ceilings.”

Joining the soccer team helped with the transition, he said. “Being on the soccer team really made me open up — not only socially, but leadership-wise and different characteristics like that.”

In Dayton, Hill will have the support of extended family, on his father’s side. “I’m definitely ready to start being a proactive student,” he said.

The field Hill aims to work in has been the focus of intense national debate since whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked classified information to the press revealing the National Security Administration’s mass surveillance techniques.

“I think some privacy rights need to be given up at this point, with terrorism and stuff like that,” is Hill’s take. “I’m not implying privacy should be intruded (upon) on a daily basis for people not accused of posing a threat.”

Among his teachers, Hill gave special thanks to Scott Reed. “He has been a huge help, not only teaching me what I need to know in calculus, but he’s given me a strong basis of leadership (and) he’s given me community service opportunities,” Hill said.