Senior Spotlight: Abington’s Cam Curney Is Bound for Brown
Curney reflects on his four year involvement in the Green Wave community
Before the school year ended for the Class of 2020, Cameron “Cam” Curney, the production manager for the Green Wave Gazette, reflected on his academics, athletics, and activities over his four years at Abington High School. He also discussed his future plans.
College Plans and Career Path
Curney has committed to Brown University and is looking to concentrate in Engineering. Curney said, “Job wise, I think I want to be a designer of some type. I’ve always liked making things and learning about the process behind design.” He also is interested in media, and hopes to take classes related to that at Brown.
Curney was the host of “Coffee with Cam,” which first aired during October 2019, the start of Curney’s senior year. Every Friday during the school year, his morning announcement show aired during homeroom. His show has continued to air despite school being cancelled.
When asked why he decided to continue filming the show during the out of school pandemic, Curney said, “In large part its due to Paul Flaherty. He did his own rendition of the show, Coffee with Paul. I thought Paul really likes the show, I feel like it might be fun to do it with him. So we did. He’s become an integral member of the team.”
The final episode of “Coffee with Cam” will air on Friday, May 29th.
Sports Accomplishments
Curney ran for the Green Wave Boys Cross Country team, and played on the Boys Basketball team, whose season was cut short due to the current pandemic. Their state championship game, scheduled for Saturday, March 14th, was cancelled just two days prior, crowning the Abington Boys Basketball Team co-state champions. Curney also played on the Ultimate Frisbee team all four years of high school. Impressively, Curney only had a single losing season in his entire high school sports career, his senior cross country season.
Some notable awards Curney earned for his sports accomplishments include those below:
- 2019-2020 MIAA student ambassador (senior year)
- Cross Country SSL All Star (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years)
- Basketball State Champion team (senior year)
- SSL Scholar Athlete Award (senior year)
- Cross Country MVP (freshman and senior years)
- Ultimate Frisbee State Champion team (junior year)
- Ultimate Frisbee MVP (sophomore year)
- Cross Country All Scholastic (senior year)
- 2x Basketball All Scholastic (senior year)
- 2x Ultimate Frisbee Massachusetts State USA Ultimate All Star (sophomore and junior years)
- Basketball SSL All Star (senior year)
- Named to the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association All-Academic Team (senior year)
Clubs and Extracurriculars
Curney participated in the Film club, Math team, Green Wave Gazette, Student Council, School Committee, and Student Athlete Advisory Council. Cam was elected to Student Council and the School Committee, and submitted an application to be on the Executive Board for SAAC. On School Committee, Cam said, “I was just there to be a voice of the students, ask questions pertinent to us, that maybe they as adults might not consider. But, the school committee members all do a fantastic job.”
Curney’s favorite hobbies include making movies with his friends, solving Rubik cubes, reading books, watching/talking about movies, and listening to music. His favorite movie that he has created so far is titled “Lemon Lovers.” Cam explained that he made the short film with his friend Jonathan “about a secret organization of lemon people who want to gain global dominance over all financial markets by making it so people literally cannot live without lemons.”
What will Curney miss most about AHS?
When asked what he will miss most about Abington High School, Curney said, “I think it sounds a bit cliché, but just because something is unoriginal doesn’t mean it’s not true. My favorite part about AHS has easily been the people. My teachers like Mr. Jay [Jayakumar], Ms. Doherty, Ms. Kitterick, Mr. Kitterick, Mr. Holzman, Ms. Corbett, Ms. Gerhart, Mr. Beer, and especially Ms. Salvetti really cemented how much I enjoyed the STEM fields. And my teachers like Ms. McHugh, Ms. Pflaumer, and Ms. Maddelena really surprised me by showing me how much I enjoy writing. All my teachers had an impact on me.”
How did Curney’s coaches have an impact on him?
Cross Country: Relating to his cross country coaches, Curney said “Mr. Campbell and Mr. Lanner were awesome at mentoring me in becoming a better leader. I think if I hadn’t done cross country and had these two guys as my head coaches, I don’t know if I would have felt as comfortable in leadership roles.”
Basketball: Curney’s basketball coaches also had a large impact on Curney. He said, “My basketball coaches, like J Brown, Pete, Marquadt, and Tighe, have been great in building my confidence as a player. I hadn’t actually played organized basketball until my freshman year. And I think they’ve always thought I could be a way better player than I ever thought I could. They’ve all been extremely invested in my success on and off the court. It’s awesome to have that type of support system from people outside of your household.”
Ultimate Frisbee: For Ultimate Frisbee, Curney said, “Mr. Scott [former coach] was also awesome in building up my confidence in my ability to play a new sport, both because he’s a talented Ultimate player and because he’s an amazing teacher of the game. My sophomore and junior year having Mr. Cutter as the Ultimate coach was different than freshman year with Mr. Scott; it was Mr. Cutter’s first real experience with Ultimate Frisbee. Mr. Cutter was super dedicated to learning a lot from Mr. Scott about the game, so we still were able to learn and grow as players. I think what really made those two seasons special was Mr. Cutter gave us a lot of respect and a lot of control of the team. I think Mr. Cutter taught a lot of us the value of mutual respect. We ended up having so much fun and winning a championship with him.”
Why did Curney join the Green Wave Gazette?
Curney explained that there were two main reasons for him joining the school newspaper in 2017. Firstly, Curney said, “Giovan Soares [who was on the Gazette 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018] really wanted me to join, and I enjoyed debating with him so it seemed promising.” For the bigger reason, Curney said, “I thought it would help improve my writing. Coming into high school, my writing was not very good. If you ask my mom, she might still tell you the same thing. But I’ve definitely grown as a writer and as a fan of media. I think that’s largely due to Ms. Pflaumer [the advisor] and the Green Wave Gazette.”
Does Curney have any advice for underclassmen?
When asked to give advice to underclassmen, Curney said, “Try some new things, give them a trial period of two to three months. I feel like that’s a decent length. Then if you don’t like what you’re doing drop it.”
Emily Coulsey is a member of the class of 2021. This is her third year on the Green Wave Gazette, and her first year in the position as School News Insider....