May 10, 2022 // Uncategorized
Bishop Dwenger salutatorian finds joy in service
Learning to balance activities and schoolwork led to great academic success for Bishop Dwenger High School salutatorian Mallory DeWald.
“To become salutatorian, it definitely took a lot of hard work and dedication, and a lot of perseverance as well. I did a lot of clubs and sports in my time at Dwenger, so it included a lot of late nights studying, and doing homework and just making the most of your time at school as well.”
During her four years at Bishop Dwenger, DeWald participated in a variety of extra-curricular activities. She was the vice president of both Key Club and National Honor Society, as well as a member of the Spirit Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and Spanish Club.
DeWald was a member of the Bishop Dwenger swim and dive team, and recalled a memorable event from her freshman season.
“In Dwenger history, we had never won the SAC before, and that year we actually won by a good amount of points, so that was just amazing to have that first time.”
This first conference win for the high school would not be the only. DeWald said that in the four seasons that she participated, Bishop Dwenger claimed the conference title a total of three times.
Of all these activities, DeWald pointed to Key Club as her favorite because it “instilled in me a desire to continue service in my life because it helps keep me grounded in our faith, and giving back to the community is one of the biggest values that Dwenger has taught as well.”
Finding enough time to succeed in both classwork and extra-curricular activities challenged DeWald, but advice from a teacher during her junior year aided in finding a balance.
“I was really struggling at the time, just balancing all my work. And my teacher said to me, ‘If you put in the work, it will all come eventually. It will all come together.’
“And that kind of clicked for me. That even if it wasn’t coming together right now, it was all going to work out, and I just had to put my faith in the Lord and just trust that it was all going to work out as He planned it to.”
DeWald said that her favorite class during high school was AP Biology. “I very much enjoyed the teacher that I had. And it’s a hard class, but the way he teaches it and interacts with us – it’s a great college preparatory class that’s going to be good for next year.”
Before attending Bishop Dwenger, DeWald graduated from St. Vincent de Paul School, and is currently a member of the parish. She said that her Catholic faith played a role throughout her time at Bishop Dwenger.
“[My faith] was always there. It was a strong rock behind me when I was struggling if I had a bad race, or a bad meet, or I did bad on a test. I just always try to keep in the back of my mind that there was a reason. There was a reason and God had that reason, and that was definitely a support system through the last four years.”
After graduation, DeWald will attend Indiana University-Bloomington to study Biology on a pre-medical track, and plans to become an ophthalmologist.
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