Alyssa Davila, ECHS valedictorian, made it through time management

Alyssa Davila

HARLINGEN — Time management.

Simply said and not so easily accomplished, but Alyssa Davila mastered it so well she made valedictorian of this year’s graduating class from Early College High School.

“It’s something I have been working for since freshman year,” said Alyssa, 17. “It’s nice to see all my hard work pay off. It’s just really exciting and very surreal.”

She managed to include numerous extracurricular activities in her tight academic schedule: National Honor Society, student council, Parent Teacher Student Association and Owls for Christ, among others. Her passion for such variety and success compelled her to carefully plan everything.

This reduced as much as possible the necessity of late-night study sessions.

“I usually get my work done early so I won’t have to (late nights),” she said. “Sometimes I will spend late nights studying, but I make sure I have a balance.”

Students at ECHS experience a rigorous academic curriculum that includes the first two years of college. Maintaining a solid grade point average is challenging enough; earning her place as valedictorian shows a rare and noble kind of perseverance.

However, the greatest challenge, not surprisingly, was making quick and radical adjustments in response to the pandemic and continuing her studies online.

“It was a little bit hard to adjust and adapt to at first, especially since we had our college classes online,” she said. “It was hard having that schedule and trying to manage the college aspect and the high school aspect, but after a while I got the hang of it.”

She enjoyed all of her classes, but asked to pick one she mentioned biology, a fitting answer considering her college and career choices.

“I plan on attending UTRGV to pursue a bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory sciences,” she said. “After that degree I want to start working and then also start pursuing my master’s degree, and I’m thinking of business or public health.”

She would like to work either at a hospital or a private laboratory, and perhaps eventually doing research.


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