‘I just did the best I could’
Published 10:00 pm Monday, May 20, 2013
Suffolk Christian Academy’s 2013 valedictorian isn’t sure yet what he wants to do with his life, but he intends to find out.
Wayne Conner, who learned of his result about two weeks ago, will attend Old Dominion University in the fall.
“I’m going to be attending ODU for the first year; I’m not sure for the following years,” he said.
He’ll study general education, he said, adding, “I’m not declaring a major until after.”
Asked what he wants to do when his student days are over, he replied, “Not a clue.”
“I’ve heard plenty of ideas about what I should do, with my performance level, but I have always been told to keep the door open,” he explained. “There’s no reason to shut a door that you don’t have to.”
Though Conner said he was expecting to be named valedictorian, his mom was still “ecstatic” about the news, he said.
“For me, it was not really a major achievement,” he continued. “I just did the best I could.”
He listed math as his favorite subject. “I’m also passionate about history,” he said.
“I don’t care for English. All the other subjects just fall into line.”
Conner has always attended First Baptist Christian School, which recently changed its name to Suffolk Christian Academy, where he has played on the soccer and baseball teams.
“Soccer season, we knew we weren’t going to be the greatest team,” he said. “However, we did have high expectations for baseball.”
The baseball team won its division conference, meaning that the hours Conner gave up from his part-time job at Food Lion so he could practice paid off.
Aside from academics, sports and his job, Conner says he likes to spend time with friends.
“I may not be a people person, but there are times I like to hang out,” he said. “I really enjoy deep-thought conversation, like what’s on the innermost part of the human mind, and really just trying to understand how the human mind works.”
Conner gave special thanks to a classmate, Michaela Jones, and his sister, Amanda Bresko.
“She (Bresko) told me if I keep up my grades … I could do anything I wanted,” he said. “She’s very smart, and I look up to her.”
Jones, he said, has helped “keep my head straight through all the years. She’s helped me stay on top of everything I needed to do.”
Before starting at ODU, Conner said he and a friend plan to volunteer at an animal shelter.
“I’m to be going to the beach with my family before I go, and also moving houses,” he said.