Gabrielle Fortes calls herself a “go with the flow” kind of person.
She certainly rode a current of success straight to the top of her senior class at Destrehan High School. Fortes was the DHS Class of 2017 Valedictorian.
“I was definitely surprised (to learn the news),” Fortes said. “I figured I might get salutatorian or maybe third in our class. When they said, ‘You’re the valedictorian,’ I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ … I thought I was a good bit behind. But it happened.”
The daughter of Joseph Fortes and Angela Fortes of Destrehan, Gabrielle was a member of the DHS Advanced Studies (Honors) Program and a four year Principal Scholar.
Her extracurricular activities included the National Honor Society, Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta, Cross Country team and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). She was named to the Academic All-State team for cross country.
Fortes is headed to Tulane University, where she plans to study biomedical engineering. That’s something she said she gravitated toward because it blends math and science, two of her top interests. However, she said plans could easily change in terms of what she studies.
“I can be a little indecisive,” Fortes admitted. “This is a good starting place for me until I figure out what I want. If I move away from this, I might move to something with financing, because I really like math.”
She loves science too, she said, because it gives people a way to explain things in a non-subjective way.
“I’m a very concrete person,” she said. “As with math, either you get the right answer or you don’t. It’s straightforward. Science shows you how things work, and that’s really interesting to me.”
Fortes was a member of the cross country team for two years, a path she took less for competitive reasons and more as a means to stay motivated to keep in shape.
“I’ve always liked running. I’d run by myself to relieve stress,” she said. “It always clears my mind. But I’m not gonna lie, I can also be a little lazy, and I’ll have trouble getting motivated. I figured if I run cross country, and somebody’s yelling at me to run, then I’m gonna run … let me get my body right and have someone help me do it.”
She credited an ability to stay focused in class as a factor that helped her earn the valedictorian honor. She also credited her teachers at Destrehan for being passionate about the success of their students as something that kept her on track.
“I felt like all my teachers cared so much about us being successful,” Fortes said. “That makes us care. They put forth their best effort, which made me feel like I had to put forth my best effort.”
Fortes said she was nervous about giving her graduation speech, at first, but after some rehearsal and positive reinforcement, she was all ready to go.
“You look and see 3,000 people out there, then 300 more of us on stage, and it’s, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a lot of people,’” Fortes said. “But I looked down at all my classmates there and realized, ‘You know, I’m cool with them’ and that I had nothing to worry about.”
She also said she’ll forever treasure the friendships and relationships she’s built over the years at Destrehan.
“I love the people here,” she said. “I’ve met some of my closest friends here. Some teachers just helped me appreciate life, appreciate subjects, like history, so much more than I had before. Then also, the football games, those were really fun. Everyone goes to games here, cheering on our team together like one big family.
“Everybody supports everybody, which makes it all more special.”
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