NEW SCOTLAND — Francesca Coppola, the valedictorian of Clayton A. Bouton High School, has known since the sixth grade that she wanted to help people when she grew up, children in general and newborns in particular, she said.

She wants to be a physician’s assistant, working in a neonatal intensive care unit; a hospital NICU specializes in the care of ill or premature infants.

Coppola will be attending Siena College in the fall, where she will major in health sciences. 

She chose Siena because of its environment, and she also “really liked the people there,” she said, adding that everyone she encountered was “super friendly and welcoming.”

She wants to be a physician’s assistant because she’s always been interested in health care.

Coppola, who was a gymnast from the age of 2 until she was in seventh grade, had a wrist injury — she crushed her lunate bone, she said — in her youth that required a trip to Shriners Hospital for Children for surgery, where she saw kids who were a lot worse off than she, Coppola said.

She has been a competitive swimmer since entering high school and will continue to compete at Siena, where swimming is a Division-1 level sport.

In her time at Clayton A. Bouton, Coppola was a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, band and jazz band, and varsity swimming. 

Her brother, Vincent, just finished his freshman year at Clayton A. Bouton, Coppola said, and he also happens to have the highest grades in his class, she said.

Asked if she felt robbed of her high school experience, because a full year and part of another had been unlike anything that had come before it due to the pandemic, Coppola said, “It’s definitely been different.”

She credited her teachers with being “super positive” and for trying to “make it as fun as possible.” Coppola said she had a hybrid schedule this year, taking advantage of in-person classes while also learning remotely at home.

But she doesn’t feel robbed of her high school experience.

She had a prom and there was still a volunteer day. “Everyone was trying to make it as normal as possible … And we’re all just trying to, like, make the best of it,” she said.

Her favorite teacher was Michael Stuart, who taught her algebra and geometry. She then qualified her response and said, “Well, I have a lot of favorite teachers, actually.” She added Kimberly Simon, who taught Coppola chemistry and anatomy, and Karen Cusato, her Advanced Placement, or college-level, statistics teacher. 

Her favorite subjects were math and science, mainly science, Coppola said.

Coppola said she had no specific favorite in-school memory, just being with her friends and being able to talk to them about school-related stuff but also their favorite TV shows and what they had done that weekend. 

Her favorite out-of-school memory was when her club swim team made it to a major meet, the Speedos Championship, “and that was like a really big meet, she said. “That was exciting.”