The announcement at the Lynn High School Swimming Awards Banquet may have gone unnoticed by some in the room at Prince Restaurant in Saugus.
But Lynn Tech Principal Diane Paradis heard it loudly and clearly and beamed a proud smile when Tech swimming coach Brad Tilley told the crowd that Tech senior Victor Vazquez will be attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the fall.
Vazquez, recipient of the Outstanding Swimmer of the Year Award at the banquet, will compete in the WPI Engineers’ swimming program. WPI is considered one of the top engineering schools in the country.
Paradis said she was very excited about Vazquez’s achievement.
“Victor will be attending WPI on an excellent scholarship opportunity,” said Paradis. “He is just a superb student.”
Vazquez was one of the key performers for Tilley’s Tigers who brought home the Lynn city and state vocational championships this season.
Paradis noted that there have been other major honors beyond the swimming pool for Vazquez, who is ranked fourth academically in Tech’s Class of 2012.
Vazquez is also the school’s outstanding vocational student of the year and he will recognized at a statewide banquet on April 25 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester.
Paradis said other students at Tech have been accepted to such outstanding universities as Rochester Institute of Technology and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and to nursing programs at colleges.
Vazquez is enrolled in honors courses and Advanced Placement classes at Tech. He is the president of the Skills USA Leadership Team.
“We need to have a school full of kids like Victor Vazquez,” said Paradis. “He’s a nice kid and a real gentleman.”