Miguelino looking to his future

​PJ Miguelino shot for the moon and received the stars when he became the first ever in Elkhorn Valley school history to graduate as a Junior.

Miguelino graduated May 13th with the 2017 class honored with a plaque for graduating a year early and maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

Miguelino plans to attend the University of Nebraska Lincoln for two years and then transfer to Purdue University to double major in aerospace and mechanical engineering. He received a regents scholarship to UNL that covers full tuition for up to 135 credit hours.

“It’s been a long road, but you know I’ve been working hard and it’s finally paying off,” he said.

Miguelino, the son of Mary and Patrick, said his journey to graduate early wasn’t always an easy road. With not a lot of free time and many extra classes, he didn’t have time for extracurricular activities, although he still finished fifth in state speech in March.

Now graduating early leaves the 17-year-old missing out on his senior year of high school.

“That’s the big year, but I think I’m investing more in my future.” Miguelino said. “While I do have to miss my senior prom and senior homecoming and all of the senior days, I guess I’m paying that off with having a more successful future.”

Miguelino said he hopes to work with NASA and be one of the first on the mission to Mars in 2030. He said graduating early will allow him to move on to a master’s degree a year earlier than others and “gain an edge.”

One thing Miguelino is looking forward to the most is independence.

“I’m finally going to have that responsibility to take care of myself and to take care of other things. A full fledged adult,” Miguelino said.