Headed to Harvard

Old Forge High’s most recent salutatorian, Richard Maopolski, will join more than 6,500 students attending Harvard University this fall — for free.

The 2009 graduate has accepted an academic scholarship from the Harvard Faculty of the Arts and Sciences. The award covers all of his college expenses, including room, board and tuition.

Maopolski attributes the scholarship to his experience as a student in the Old Forge School District.

"You can get a lot out of a small school," he said. "It’s almost better in a sense because everybody knows you and really wants you to succeed."

"I was always trying to do more, learn more and understand the world around me more," he said. "There were some teachers at Old Forge that really helped me feed that knowledge thirst."

Not only was Maopolski senior class president and salutatorian, he also worked on numerous political campaigns, while maintaining a 4.14 overall grade point average.

Maopolski also applied to Yale, Princeton and the University of Pittsburgh.

"I really spent a lot of time at the library. I never told myself I couldn’t do it and always set high goals," he said. "This is chapter two for me, the next chapter of the story."

Maopolski plans to spend the first four years studying government and law.

Eventually I want to study constitutional law," he added.

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