Editor’s note: This is second in a series of articles spotlighting the valedictorians from each of the schools in Dallas County.

Being smart comes easy for Dylan Curtin, but it took a challenge from a friend to relight his academic fire and become Meadowview Christian School’s valedictorian.

Curtin finished at the top of the Trojan class with a 3.55 GPA, but understood it could have been higher.

“For a long time I was the kid in the class who got all of the awards,” Curtin said. “When we got to ninth grade, I just went through one of those phases where I didn’t want to be in school and so I just played around. In my junior year a friend of mine told me I couldn’t make all-A’s and that really challenged me again.”

Curtin has spent ever year at Meadowview and will be the fifth Curtin to graduate from the school where he said was more like a home than a place of learning.

“If you think about it, from the time you are 5-years old to the time you are 18, you spend more time at school than you do at your house,” Curtin said. “So this school pretty much is my home. This school is like a house and everyone here is your family. You have times where you want to leave, but now that it’s nearing the end, it’s hard.”

Curtin was surprised to hear he had been named valedictorian because he admittedly didn’t always put in the effort.

“If it came too easy for me I would blow it off,” Curtin said. “It just took me a while to get back into the whole process of working hard and striving to make the grades instead of just goofing off, because, honestly, I thought goofing off was more fun at the time.”

Even though the closing of his high school career is drawing ever nearer, Curtin can look at his future with a sense of certainty.

He is going to attend the University of West Alabama with his best friend and get his degree in Psychology, which stems from his natural curiosity of human behavior.

“I will be able to get my bachelors degree and master’s degrees there,” said Curtin. “Then if I want to get my doctorate I can go to South Alabama, who UWA works closely with.

It’s pretty exciting to think about going to school and getting to learn about what makes me excited.”