Rose basketball highlights
Nelson navigates his unique passions
MON. |10-16-23| FEATURES
As seniors begin to ready themselves for the college atmosphere, senior Hunter Nelson has gotten a head start. Nelson applied to take a course at East Carolina University (ECU) and was accepted as a visiting student. He is currently enrolled in their Calculus Three class.
“I want to be an engineer, and I thought that taking as many math courses as I could while still in high school would be a good idea,” Nelson said. “I can get sort of a head start for college.”
Nelson not only takes a course at ECU, but is also enrolled in online courses at North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) where he is currently learning about nanotechnology. Nelson had to get accepted back as a sophomore to be able to take these online classes he is currently enrolled in.
“My favorite [class] I've taken has been aerospace engineering at NCSSM,” Nelson said. “We did a bunch of cool projects like making film gliders and stuff.”
Graphic by Anna McLean Evans
“My grandad was lucky enough to be a pilot, and he had a plane,” Nelson said. “That's one of my earliest memories, just flying around with him,”
When Nelson was a little boy, he always took an interest in science and math. He had a love for building Legos and decided to take up robotics as an elementary student.
“Way back in elementary school, I was on the FLL (First Lego League) team which is pretty much lego robots that compete, and I just really enjoyed it,” Nelson said. “I wanted to continue it all throughout highschool.”
Nelson has grown his passion for robotics ever since then. He is currently involved with a local robotics team called the Pitt Pirates, where they construct a robot to challenge in January.
“We build a robot to compete in an event that changes every year,” Nelson said. “We also do side projects; for example I’m working with someone from D.H. Conley right now to build an electric go kart.”
Throughout high school Nelson has been involved in multiple academic extracurriculars such as Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and many National honor societies. He is now the ongoing president of the math honor society, Mu Alpha Theta.
One of Nelson's recent accomplishments includes getting a perfect score on the American College Testing, better known as the ACT.
“I actually found out at one of my robotics competitions,” Nelson said. “I was very happy.”
Nelson's talent is not only limited to the classroom but also expands to his music. Nelson is the lead drummer of a rock band which is made up of doctors that work throughout Greenville. His band has recently performed for the North Carolina Motorcycle Safety Group in Mount Air and usually has gigs for bars around Greenville.
“I’m actually in a rock band called the Speculations,” Nelson said. “We practice and then all of the money that we make from gigs we play around North Carolina goes to charity, so we don’t keep any of it.”
Nelson has worked towards his passion while juggling diverse extracurriculars and courses throughout high school. He has big aspirations for his future and he sets a good example for those who think they cannot branch out their interests.