VOORHEESVILLE — Clayton A. Bouton High School salutatorian Devin Freeman, 18, stayed up late writing his salutatory speech. Then, he says he had his friend, girlfriend, and father look it over, and he was going to present it to his mother to look at as well.

“I’m not good at writing at speeches,” he says.

In his speech, Freeman compared life in high school to the show “Family Matters.” He described how the family with “the creepy neighbor named Urkel,” and the police officer Carl would always come across a problem, and then try and fail at a solution, but how, after a few laughs, they would always find the right way to solve the problem.

“Obviously life throws curve balls, but if you try really hard you’ll succeed,” he says.

Freeman also thanked Principal Laura Schmitz, the senior class advisor Nadine Bassler, his fellow students, and his friend Trevor McHugh, who is willing to dress up in the school’s Blackbird mascot costume and help out with many activities at school.

Freeman will be going to Clarkson University in the fall, where he will major in aeronautical engineering. He hopes to continue on with a master’s degree in engineering and eventually work in this field, his dream job being working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Freeman says he became interested in aeronautical engineering after watching shows like “Star Trek” and the “Star Wars” movies. One of the quotes under Freeman’s picture in the yearbook is from Commander Chakotay of the “Star Trek: Voyager” series. The other quote, Freeman says, he can’t believe the school allowed him to submit: “I’ve come for your pickle,” from the show “Spongebob Squarepants.”

Freeman is also interested in United States history, especially the Progressive Era and the Civil War, and says he read his Advanced Placement United States history textbook “through and through.” During high school, Freeman also took part in National Honor Society, Students Against Destructive Decisions, Model United Nations, and Mock Trial. In Mock Trial, Freeman says the club is given a made-up case that they then try in a mock session at Albany County Family Court. Freeman remembers one case where he had to do extensive research on fracking, as he portrayed a local fracking expert in a mock trial over a company accused of illegal fracking.

Freeman will be graduating with his twin sister, Daphne, and says he will miss his friends and his teachers, especially his A.P. economics teacher, David Lawrence, and his Algebra II and A.P. statistics teacher, John Sittig. Freeman remembers how Lawrence helped set up a “Star Wars Day” the day “Star Wars, Episode VII” released. Freeman says his teacher wore a Jabba the Hut T-shirt while Freeman dressed up as Kylo Ren.

“They made the classes really interesting,” says Freeman.

Despite all those he’ll miss, Freeman says he is eager to go to college. After completing all his Advanced Placement exams in May, he says he is has now been just been waiting for graduation.

“I’m a little sad but I’m also really excited,” he says.