Just like every other college student across the country, Ryan Hoffmann had a unique freshman experience after the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Huntington High School’s Class of 2019 salutatorian was sailing through his first year at Northeastern University in Boston and then a surreal situation presented itself.
Huntington Class of 2019 salutatorian Ryan Hoffmann is studying at Northeastern University
“I’ve loved Northeastern so far and I’m extremely sad the year got cut short,” Mr. Hoffmann said. “The classes I’ve taken so far have been so much fun and after switching my major, I think I ended up somewhere that I’m going to love over the next three years, learning things that I’ll enjoy doing for the rest of my life.”
As a high school senior, Mr. Hoffmann considered Case Western Reserve University, Stevens Institute of Technology and Stony Brook University before finalizing his plans to attend Northeastern.
“I’ve made some amazing new friends both at school and in the surrounding community that I already miss a lot even though I keep up with them every day,” Mr. Hoffmann said. “It was really unfortunate that the semester got cut short and that summer classes will be online now, but I can’t wait to get back in the fall and see all my friends again, as well as explore Boston even more, which I really only got to do towards the end of the spring semester.”
The Huntington alum was originally pursuing a major in chemical engineering, but he decided to switch over to mechanical engineering and much happier after finding his niche.
“Northeastern itself is way different than I thought it would be when I applied, but in the best ways,” Mr. Hoffmann said. “Student life is way more fun than I thought, the campus is much more expansive and ‘campus-y’ than I expected for a city campus and I genuinely couldn’t see myself wanting to attend any other school after spending a year at Northeastern.”