Schools

A Chat with MHS Valedictorian Ethan McCoy

Brown University's newest freshman talks about rap philosophers, the benefits of an open curriculum for college freshman and offers his support for Melrose Public Schools.

Ethan McCoy's valedictorian speech at last Friday's Melrose High School graduation ceremonies had his fellow students, people in the audience and local officials laughing throughout (apparently local officials really like the phrase, "Like butter, the Class of 2010 is truly on a roll"). Melrose Patch caught up with McCoy this week, post-graduation, to talk about his speech, his plans for the future and what he'd change at Melrose High School.

Melrose Patch: What are your plans for next year?

McCoy: Next year I will be at Brown University down in Providence. And I'm not really sure what I'm planning on majoring in. I'm looking, in terms of courses for the fall, at subjects like history, anthropology, maybe environmental science and maybe continuing French. I'm going to look around for a couple of years and see what I like.

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Melrose Patch: Why Brown?

McCoy: I guess it was mainly because they have this thing called the "open curriculum," where they have zero requirements, whereas other schools have a core curriculum with certain courses you have to take. For me — not knowing what I want to do — this is really great advantage and lets me take a look at a lot of things that look interesting, and figure out what I want to do.

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I also heard Providence is a really cool, small city ... it's close to home, but definitely a change of scenery.

Melrose Patch: Still planning on owning that Olive Garden?

McCoy: No (laughs), that was all in jest. I hope that nobody took offense to it — it was because of those ridiculous commercials — and I thought, "No one will be offended because I've never seen one around here."

Melrose Patch: Your valedictorian speech was well-received. Was it difficult to say something genuine without coming across as hackneyed and clichéd?

McCoy: Definitely. When I thought about it, I'm just really not a big fan of the whole thing in general. I think that it's really sort of out-of-place for an 18-year-old to get up there and preach to other 18-year-olds. I don't think I was in a position to do that to my peers ... I thought if I could keep people entertained, make the speech something they enjoyed and could get across that I enjoyed my time in high school, I thought that would be making the best of the opportunity.

Melrose Patch: The stereotype of the valedictorian is perhaps the student with his or her nose constantly in a book. What are some of the other activities you were involved in — both at Melrose High School and away from school — for the past four years?

McCoy: With the school, I played on the golf and tennis teams, which were a lot of fun. For the past two years, I've been in the marching band and also done a variety of clubs — French club, Latin club, I started an International Club which was a lot of fun. Outside of school, really, I'm a sports guy at heart. Playing pickup games with friends, watching sports, playing some music here or there. I kept myself busy, but I definitely like to kick back and just do nothing once in a while. (laughs)

Melrose Patch: What did you like best about your Melrose High School experience? What do you think could be improved?

McCoy: The best thing, I would probably say, is that at least with our class that just graduated, it was really a lot of groups intermingled and it was less "cliquey" than I guess high school stereotypes to be. I had friends on the different sports teams, with the band, kids from my classes, and I also kept very close to my friends from middle school who went off to other schools. I got to know so many different people and I think that was really true for most people in the grade.

One thing I would change ... (pause) That's tough. I guess I would say that I would get rid of the wellness class requirement. For me, I really wanted to take a second language when I got to high school and because of the wellness requirement, it meant I had to drop an elective, so I dropped marching band. I really wish I could have taken the Latin for four years and also taken marching band. I realize the importance of wellness, but for some other kids, it created some problems.

Melrose Patch: I have to ask: who's the philosopher who once said, "Oh, let's do it!"

McCoy: (Laughs) He is a rap artist who gained sort of a cult phenomenon for our class towards the end of the year. That was sort of a fun saying that we had. Some of the lyrics are fairly offensive and expletive-laden, but I really wanted to end with something that I knew my peers would really like and cheer, something unexpected, and set it up like I was going to quote something really profound and then say something like that the kids would enjoy. I was happy with the way it ended.

Melrose Patch: You know I'm using that all the time now. I'm always looking for new catchphrases. I have my first sip of coffee in the morning and say, "Oh, let's do it!"

McCoy: (Laughs) Fantastic.

Melrose Patch: Anything you'd like to say to the Melrose community?

McCoy: That's a tough one. (Pause) I guess I would say that a lot of people — again, this isn't very eloquent — give the Melrose Public School system a lot of crap. For me at least, in the end I found it really rewarding and they did everything for me that I could have asked from them. After 12 years, I was really happy with the way it turned out. I think a lot of people sort of bash Melrose schools, but in the long run, I was really happy with the way it turned out.


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