“Being in a low-income school within a low-income city itself puts many more obstacles in front of me and many other students. I have overcome the hate from surrounding areas that view my high school as a bunch of uneducated kids having nothing going for themselves. While this is not true at all, we have to face the fact that this is how others tend to view us for whatever reason, and it is our job to represent Bulkeley with pride regardless, and show that we have just as much a chance to succeed like any other student from a different city.”
Will attend the University of Connecticut
luis gonzalez
As the first hispanic male valedictorian of Bulkeley High School, Luis Gonzalez has given many people someone to look up to. He does this often; he is the first person in his family to go to college and is a proud example of what students from Hartford can accomplish. He graduated Bulkeley with a 3.97 GPA. He was an active member of the Bulkeley High School community playing on many sports teams and participating in activism. Luis even attended a social justice camp where he was able to grow his leadership skills and learn to use them to benefit an important cause. He is proudest of overcoming the assumptions made of a Hartford student and being able to be successful despite the “weight” that come with those assumptions.
Luis will continue to make Hartford proud at the University of Connecticut next year where he will major in sociology. There he will be another great example of the successful, community-minded, and hardworking students that come out of Hartford.