Bernard Moussad, Russellville High School’s 2016 valedictorian, has and will continue to reach high levels of success.
Moussad moved to Russellville at the age of one from Mississippi. His parents are Rizk Moutagaly and Irene Samy. He has one younger brother, Max, who will be attending Russellville High School next year.
Moussad is very active in several school clubs and extracurricular activities, including Mu Alpha Theta and the Russellville High School Marching Hundred, in which he plays trumpet. He also serves as the National Honor Society vice president and the I.T. (Information Technology) head for Russellville City Schools Engineering.
“I am not sure if it has always been my goal to be valedictorian,” Moussad said. "I wanted to be valedictorian, but I was not focused on finishing first in my class. If it happened, I would be happy, but if it did not, that would be fine, too, because I knew I tried my best."
When he found out that he had a chance at becoming the valedictorian, Moussad was relieved and it became his goal. Even though he had a good chance, he still worried that someone might beat him out for it.
“I was beyond elated that I was it and also nervous because I knew I would have to give that speech at graduation,” Moussad said.
Now that becoming the valedictorian has sunk in, Moussad is relaxed about it. It still has not hit him yet that he will be graduating soon and that he will be giving his speech in front of his entire class, their parents and his teachers.
“My advice for next year’s seniors is to enjoy it all,” Moussad said.
Although this might seem cliche, Moussad feels as though his senior year has flown by. He started a countdown on the first day of school, but now he wishes he could have all that time back and be able to start over again.
Moussad’s future plans are to attend Auburn University in the fall and earn a degree in computer science. He would like to go into the field of computer science/engineering. He said he would really enjoy working with robots in the future.
“If I was given the job to program and assemble them, then my life would be made,” Moussad said.
Moussad just wants his classmates to know that it has been a pleasure living life with them over the years.
“I loved getting to know the people that I have spent my entire life with, and I am going to miss them,” Moussad said.
