Nauset Student, Teacher Awarded By Harvard Club

ORLEANS – Patrick Clark first met Alyia Vasquez when she was recommended by staff at Nauset Regional High School to serve on the school’s handbook committee as a freshman.

 “I thought ‘Wow, she must be really impressive,’” the high school principal recalled. “And then she came in with a maturity and approach that was really well beyond her years.”

 Fast forward to this summer, when Clark was approached by Karen Van Winkle, former president of the Harvard Club of Boston. Van Winkle had recently moved to Wellfleet, and she approached Clark for recommendations for a student and teacher at the high school that embodied educational excellence.

 “Something was coming up in the fall, and she thought that Nauset should be recognized, because she knows there are great things happening here,” he said.

 Vazquez and Andrew Clark, a history teacher at Nauset High, were among those students and teachers honored by the Harvard Club at a ceremonial breakfast on Oct. 2. 

 “I was pretty surprised,” said Vazquez, now a senior. “I don’t know, I’d never gone to anything like that, especially at a place that’s so prestigious. It was a huge honor.”

Principal Clark said that the club honored select students and teachers that demonstrated a deeper love of learning beyond the pursuit of grades and other traditional metrics.

 “Both Andrew and Alyia absolutely fit that description, where the curiosity and the learning is the priority,” he said.

 Andrew Clark, who has been teaching at Nauset High for 29 years, had Vazquez as a sophomore in his AP art history class. Even as a sophomore, Vazquez rose “head and shoulders” above her classmates, many of whom were seniors, he said.

 “Her mind is so flexible, just her ability to jump between topics fluidly, it was a joy to have her as part of the conversation,” he said.

 Vazquez is active in several clubs and extracurriculars at Nauset, where she is a member of the book club, the debate team and National Honors Society, of which she currently serves as president. She said she also enjoys challenging herself academically.

 “I like taking a bunch of different random classes on subjects I wouldn’t normally be taking classes in,” she said.

 When asked to recommend a teacher to be recognized by the Harvard Club, Principal Clark said that Andrew’s name very quickly came to mind. He called Andrew “an outstanding educator” who is invested in educating the whole student.

“First of all, he has a fabulous rapport with students, where students know he is pulling for them all the time,” he said. “He wants students to learn, he wants them to grow and become better students, and he’s constantly modeling how to be a better person. That’s an excellent set of characteristics in one person.” 

“I was really appreciative and very flattered to be recognized,” Andrew said.

The Oct. 2 breakfast offered the student and teacher the opportunity to meet with others being honored, including folks from New York and Maine. They were also treated to a tour of the club courtesy of Van Winkle, Vazquez said.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” Vaquez said. “I’d never been to the Harvard Club before, so it was cool to see everything there.”

Principal Clark said he was glad to see Vazquez’s academic accomplishments recognized, adding that the honor, while deserved, is not something she would readily seek out on her own.

“She’s probably one of the last students you would ever meet who would put herself up for some kind of recognition,” he said. “She’s so thoughtful and reflective, and just a bright young lady. But the idea of her winning an award or having her photo in the newspaper, her hesitation is ‘Oh God, why me?’”

 Like many seniors, Vazquez is busy applying for college and exploring her options for life after Nauset High. She said she plans to study biochemistry or biomedicine and Spanish.

 For Andrew, the Harvard Club ceremony left him feeling hopeful about what today’s high school students can accomplish moving forward.

 “We hear so much in the news about where America is going and what the country’s all about,” he said. “But when you sit in a room like that with that kind of talent, focus and goal-oriented achievement, it’s hard not to feel optimistic about our country.”