Former HHS valedictorian graduates from top university

Davey with his parents Todd and Tracey Hunt

Davey Hunt, the valedictorian of the Heard High School Class of 2008 graduated June 15, 2012 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is one of the top five universities in the world.

Davey earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and has already accepted a job with SpaceX in California. He will be leaving for his new career this fall.

Hunt graduated from HHS as the valedictorian with a 98.7 GPA and scored a 4.5 GPA during his time at the prestigious engineering school. Davey’s proud parents are Todd and Tracey Hunt and his younger brother Jonathon is an upcoming junior at HHS.

“I majored in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, which is what I wanted to do coming out of high school. I’ve always had a passion for space exploration and airplanes, so it was a pretty easy choice for me,” said Hunt.

The aerospace field breaks down into two categories, airplanes and rockets, and Davey has chosen to pursue his career in rockets.  Hunt credits several of his former HHS teachers with helping his dream become a reality.

He states that he was originally guided towards MIT by Ms. Barber at the middle school and he also gives much of the credit to two of his high school educators:

“Mr. Mixon and Coach Tatom were my most influential teachers. Mixon led me towards MIT and gave me the time and help that I needed in applying to colleges and scholarships. He also helped to start developing my leadership skills early on when we started The Warcry my sophomore year. Tatom was my math teacher, which was my favorite subject, and he realized that I wanted to learn more and do more than the high school curriculum provided, so he went out of his way to give me more material. He was also a former engineer, so he was there for me to talk to about engineering-related stuff when I just needed to satisfy my curiosity.”~Davey Hunt

Not just a science and engineering geek, Hunt also participated in a well-rounded lifestyle during his time at MIT.

He played wide receiver on the football team during his sophomore and junior years and also started a new fraternity chapter (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) with a few of his friends during his freshman year.

When asked about the adjustment of moving so far away to California, Hunt stated that he is ready: “I worked at Spacex last summer  so I’m pretty comfortable with the location and I am making the trip with one of my fraternity brothers who will also be living there so that makes the change much easier. The only negative part will be not getting to see my family as often as I would like.”

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation and ultimately make it possible for people to live on other planets. Davey will begin work on September 10.