Kiran Foster’s got love for science

This year’s Goshen High School valedictorian, Kiran Foster, will join a line of recent Fosters who have attended Cornell University — and he will bring with him a love for science and a goal to continue exploring potential new pathways for his future.

Foster, 18, from Goshen, said his parents met at Cornell and encouraged his brothers to attend as well, culminating in his own acceptance this year to the engineering school. He said he had an idea that he was in the running for the valedictorian title for a few years now. Though the news did not come as a complete surprise, it was nice to finally know for sure.

In addition to his academic involvement, Foster participated in track and field - both indoor and outdoors - and cross country in high school.

“I can definitely say that that has made an impact on my academics because it taught me to be very consistent in what I do,” Foster said. “I’ve always been a good student, but definitely on top of that, running has been a good thing for me.” He added that he looks forward to potentially joining a Cornell run club as a less intense way to continue the hobby.

He also competes with Science Olympiad, a STEM-based club, where teams go up against each other at different levels in science-themed events. Having done it since middle school, he said he would always attend practices when his two older brothers, both three years older than him, originally competed.

As for his future career ventures, Foster said he was unsure exactly what field he wanted to pursue after graduation from college. He said engineering has always interested him, and the Science Olympiad helped to build his interest in the subject.

While he hopes to continue his engineering studies, he added that his mom is a doctor, and he is also inspired to explore options in the medical field, using the upcoming year to explore different routes like biomedical engineering or medicine.

Foster’s dad, who he said has always been able to figure out the answers to any of his school-focused questions, has also been a big inspiration and source of encouragement for him.

“He works from home, but he’s always been there for me academically and as a support figure obviously,” Foster said. “I’ve always been able to go to him as a person to ask questions, and he’s really smart, and to me, he knows everything.”

Even though his graduation speech was still not completely finished, he said he hoped to use the moment to recognize other students in the graduating class, those who are “masters of their own craft” but were not afforded the opportunity to do a speech.

Though he said most people may not expect it from him, Foster tends to procrastinate often, and he said looking back on the years behind him, he has learned it is better long-term to complete assignments right away.

“I always get my work done, but it’s very stressful to not have it done beforehand, and I‘d tell myself to just do it because it’s never as bad as it seems,” he said.

Though even amongst some challenges, he highlighted one of his fondest high school memories — attending the class trip to Disney a few months ago, which he said was a “nice moment to celebrate the whole four years.”

Goshen’s graduating class is defined by their “community-focus,” Foster said, and the ways in which they consistently show up for their local neighborhoods. Over the years, they’ve done various projects, especially through school clubs, to raise money for the community.

Foster has been close friends with salutatorian Henry Dong for years. He said they have taken several difficult classes with one another, constantly working together, which has fueled their friendship.

Next year, Foster said he wants to spend more time figuring out how to learn.

“I know sometimes in high school, we take a class and we forget everything,” he said. “In college I want to focus on learning stuff and remembering it and then applying it to future classes.”