Sydney Cordeiro loves the water. The Huntington High School senior loves it so much she plans to study ocean engineering at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
Ms. Cordeiro was named a Distinguished Senior earlier this spring. It’s a designation that comes with earning an academic average of at least a 90 during every marking period in the past four years. She credits her success to her organizational, communication and time management skills, immersion in school activities and getting a good night’s sleep.
Florida Tech is one of only seven colleges in the country to offer ocean engineering and its warm environment program is exactly what Ms. Cordeiro had been searching for. “My dream career is to study for a number of years on a research vessel and balance it with equally engaging lab time,” she said.
Ms. Cordeiro visited several colleges before deciding that Florida Tech was a good fit. The small school setting and multiple swimming pools coupled with nationally recognized engineering programs made Florida Tech an easy choice.
A member of Huntington’s High Honor Roll since her freshman year, Ms. Cordeiro began the journey through Huntington UFSD as a kindergartener at Southdown Primary School. She later attended Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School, where she discovered her love of the sciences. After arriving at Finley, she found a love of music and dance and she’s carried that with her through high school as an active member of concert and chamber choirs and performing in drama club musicals.
The senior has been completely engaged these past four years, participating in the robotics club, varsity swimming, drama club and five separate academic honor societies.
At Florida Tech she hopes to get involved with the college’s robotics program and scuba club as well as swimming, Larson Motorsports and various social events at the school.
Ms. Cordeiro took challenging courses this year, including Advanced Placement Chemistry and AP Physics, among several others. She plans on pursuing an ocean engineering and environmental sciences dual major with a minor in education.
The teenager fell in love with diving as a freshman and became an advanced underwater certified diver. Ms. Cordeiro completed an internship last year at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences where she hopes to return one day to continue her research.
The senior realizes she owes a huge debt of gratitude to Huntington UFSD. Teachers, coaches, aides, administrators; they have all helped her prepare for moving forward in life.
“I have been blessed enough to travel to various countries, including Ireland, Scotland, UK, France and Vienna,” Ms. Cordeiro said. “Through the beauty of it all, my favorite place must be Ireland. It’s magnificent warmth and people (even when it rains) is infectious and taught me to have compassion for all things.”
The senior is adventurous and has also traveled to the Czech Republic, Austria and Bermuda with her family. But she really does love Huntington.
“As Thor states, ‘Ragnarok is not a place, it’s a people” and Huntington is the same,” Ms. Cordeiro said. “The connections and conversations I’ve had here will never be forgotten and will forever be loved.”
It’s been a great ride for the teenager, but she is ready to move ahead with college, career and life in general.
“I’ve had an embracing experience here at Huntington,” Ms. Cordeiro said. “There’s been trials and tribulations with the Class of 2022, but we’ve ‘climbed a mountain and crossed a river’ and we are now all here graduating. Teachers, parents, alumni and zip ties have gotten me here (yes, zip ties) and I am so very grateful for them.”