Know Your Neighbor: Brian Reilly, High School Student, Mount Kisco
Fox Lane High School junior Brian Reilly arrived home one day earlier this school year to find a letter he first thought was more junk mail for him. After he took the time to open the envelope, it was anything but junk.
Reilly learned that he had been nominated by his teachers to represent Fox Lane at the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. in July, an honor extended to high-achieving engineering students at high schools throughout the United States.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Reilly said. “At first I thought it was spam mail and then (I realized) it actually mattered.”
While being selected is certainly a high honor, it’s consistent with Reilly’s performance in school, particularly when it comes to his engineering classes where he said he’s been averaging about a 97.
For the conference, students with at least a 3.5 Grade Point Average and a high aptitude in their engineering courses are eligible for consideration.
During the two weeks he will be away in the first half of July, Reilly will be with other similarly gifted students participating in engineering competitions and listening to and speaking with professional engineers and college students who are pursuing that career. It’s an experience he’s certain will be exciting.
“Later in the week we’ll go to conferences and we’ll talk to individuals who have majors in the field and they’ll talk about what we need to do, what we need to strive for and don’t be afraid to fail,” said Reilly, the oldest of four children, although he’s only one minute older than his twin sister.
As a further testament to his strength as a math and science student, Reilly has also been selected to attend the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders in Boston in late June. He was nominated by astronaut Buzz Aldrin, to represent New York based on his academic achievement, leadership potential and passion for science and technology.
Reilly said at this point in his education–and it’s still early since he’s barely begun the college search process and has just one SAT exam under his belt–he is leaning toward becoming an aerospace major. Someone who earns that degree would have all types of job opportunities from parts manufacturing companies, to airlines to government work.
Of course, the good part of being only 17 years old is that there is plenty of time to change course if something unexpected arises. Since aerospace majors take many of the same courses as those studying to become mechanical engineers, Reilly said if he finds aerospace too difficult, he figures he would have something to fall back on.
But when you’re as successful in school as Reilly is, at least in science, engineering and math, that backup plan may not be necessary.
Of course, there are also the classes that Reilly tolerates so he can look forward to the subjects that interest him.
“The highlight of my day is really my engineering course and my business class,” said Reilly, who also takes physics and trigonometry while enjoying movies, television and reading when he has some free time. “They’re my favorites. I find it a relief because it comes after my English and my Social Studies back to back, two hours of that.”
While Reilly is bit anxious at taking part in the college search process because of the uncertainty, he’s looking forward to the summer. After all it’s just won’t be two weeks of work, but he is also anticipating the trips to the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill.
“It will be the highlight of my summer,” he said.
In the print version of this article, Brian Reilly was mistakenly referred to as Brian Kelly. The Examiner regrets the error.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/