Palmetto Ridge High Graduate of Distinction David Gomez knows 'the magic of math,' will study at MIT

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of Naples Daily News stories on Graduates of Distinction, who are selected by staff at the high school. 

Palmetto Ridge High School Principal Jon Bremseth said that senior David Gomez once represented the school as a one-man team in an academic invitational competition against 20 teams of four kids each and took third place.

Gomez’s academic team coach, Allison Chapman, said it wasn’t true.

“No,” Chapman said.

Well, of course it wasn’t true. How crazy would that be? But before the next question, Chapman interjected.

“He actually came in second place.”

Bremseth chose Gomez as the high school’s graduate of distinction not just because of his academic achievements — Gomez is a National Merit Finalist, a National AP scholar and will have a weighted GPA of 6.0 by graduation — but also because of his humility and leadership.

“David is very humble. He’s not one to promote himself in any way,” Bremseth said. “It’s kind of what makes him unique.”

More:2018 Graduates of Distinction

Gomez’s science teacher, Michelle Joyce, said that he often reminds her of "The Little Engine That Could." She’ll check in with him to make sure he’s not burning out, and he always replies that he’s doing fine and then gets right back to work.

He would go to Joyce’s classroom at lunch many days and show students what Joyce called “the magic of math.”

“He can fill an entire board in my classroom with these big mathematical problems. I can understand it, and he can understand it, but the kids can’t,” Joyce said. “But he will willingly stand there and happily explain what all of it means. He has a vested interest in other kids loving math.”

Gomez has participated in Mu Alpha Theta — a mathematics honor society — Academic Team and Academic WorldQuest.

He’s been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and plans to study genetic engineering, specifically the modification of the genome variations of plants and animals.

“I look up to a lot of people,” Gomez said. “My parents did a good job raising me, my grandmother, my teachers, obviously. It’s hard to choose just one. Everyone has contributed to what I am.”

Gomez looks up to his teachers, but Joyce said he impacts the Palmetto Ridge community in return.

“He’s an inspiration to me as a teacher,” Joyce said. “I will miss him, but the students will miss him because of his intellectual leadership. We have quarterbacks and star athletes who can lead a team, but we don’t have many academic students who can lead. It won’t just be that I miss him, the students will miss his leadership.”