Mateo Dueñas is one of the three seniors who earned the title of The Preuss School UC San Diego’s graduating class of 2022 Valedictorian. A video that all three Valedictorians collaborated on will be presented at the Graduation Ceremony on June 16, 2022.

Born in San Diego, California, Preuss Triton’s Mateo Dueñas is a first generation college student for his family who first entered The Preuss School UC San Diego in 6th grade, 2015. Now accepted to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to further his education and major in Aerospace Engineering to target his career path of becoming a future Astronautical Engineer. During his high school experience he was part of the Robotics club, Gaming Club, as well as a member and officer of National Honor Society (NHS). He made sure to not be absorbed by large amounts of schoolwork but still mess around and play video games just like any other high schooler.

“ The most important lesson that I have learned at Preuss is to not take things too seriously. One of the main reasons I’m Valedictorian is because I always figured out the minimum amount of work I had to do to get an A,” Mateo (22’) stated.

Although he did encounter challenges through high school such as ending the school year with several missing assignments, he made sure to complete those assignments that counted the most in the gradebook and not to put much effort in those that weren’t worth a lot in exchange. In fact, he used the Aries app to figure out which assignments he should prioritize to increase his percentage in a class which can be found using the edit tool on the app. He encourages current and future Preuss students to take this advice and to work smarter, not harder.

When asked about how his parents reacted when they found out he was Valedictorian, Mateo commented,
“ They didn’t really care much. They already knew that I had good grades so they expected it.“

Congratulations to Mateo Dueñas and the other two Valedictorians of The Preuss School UC San Diego graduating class of 2022. Mateo would also like to mention his favorite teachers: Ms. Garcia, Ms. Esparza, and Mr.Kim.