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Keith Love: Still Representing Hopkinton Proudly

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This is the third in a series by Hopkinton High School AP Language teacher Michael Franchock as he reconnects with past students to find out where they are today.

By Michael Franchock

Five years ago, on pep rally day, Keith Love showed up to Hopkinton High school wearing a carved pumpkin on his head—while on crutches. The year before, Keith dressed up as social studies teacher and Hopkinton icon Nancy Clark for Halloween. Whether he was in the classroom, running track, playing soccer, or socializing in the hallways, Keith embraced being a Hiller and made our school and community proud.

For the last four years, Keith has attended Colby College, and not surprisingly, he has continued to excel there as well. For the last two years he has been the Co-President of his class and also has done exceptionally well academically. As for sports, Keith says, “I ran track my freshman year, but after that I really wanted to focus on academics. It was a good choice. Without sports, I was able to get involved in a lot more things on campus.” While at Hopkinton High, Keith was very involved in environmental initiatives, which became his academic focus in college. “I was a research assistant for a few professors. I also got to spend my senior year January term in Peru studying parrots at a rain forest research station.” When I asked him what that entailed, Keith laughed. “I was the one they made climb up the ropes and distract the birds so we could examine their nests,” he said.

Colby gave Keith other opportunities as well. “During my junior year, I studied abroad with a comparative public health program focused on HIV. We started in DC, then went to Brazil, Vietnam and then South Africa. It was a great experience.” With graduation less than four weeks away, I asked Keith about the future. “I’ve decided to go to medical school at Mt. Sinai,” Keith said, “but I deferred my acceptance for one year. I hope to do another ornithological research program, and then I’m looking to travel for awhile before going back to school.”

We then talked about Hopkinton for a while, and I asked Keith if it was hard transitioning to college, given his popularity at HHS. “It was tough transitioning,” he admitted. “I knew my peers at Hopkinton for twelve years. But I felt prepared--academically and socially. I felt ready to jump in, but I had to answer the existential questions of college—who do I want to be, who do I want hang out with, what do I want to do? After I got through that, it was fine.”

Finally, I asked Keith what he has learned in the last four years that he wished he knew when he was in high school. “I’ve learned to embrace the uncertainty. I get too worked up about what’s the next step. Wherever you end up is fine, and uncertainty is the joy of the process in hindsight.” When I asked him if there was anything else he wished he could share with current students, Keith said. “I’d tell them to maintain relationships with people from high school. Too many people get washed away after a few years. Also, take your time and reflect. I think if I had to go through the college process again, I would seriously consider taking a year off between high school and college.”