“Just a hometown boy born a rolling stone” (New Jersey Herald)

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p><a href=“http://www.njherald.com/289140952307196.php[/url]”>http://www.njherald.com/289140952307196.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“Hopatcong High School valedictorian Jason Alfredo Pedraza has lived in Hopatcong all his life. He admits that he will miss the hometown feeling when he begins his freshman year at Princeton in the fall. </p>

<p>Pedraza said his new theme song will be “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” by Bon Jovi. He said the lyrics of the song ring true for him. "Who says you can’t go home. There’s only one place they call me one of their own. Just a hometown boy born a rolling stone. </p>

<p>During his high school career, Pedraza has been a member of the academic team, mock trial team as well as Rebel, an anti-smoking club and Kids for Kids that teaches younger children the facts about drugs and alcohol. </p>

<p>Pedraza admits that between school work and his extra-curricular activities he doesn’t have much time for hobbies but he has an interest in muscle cars. He owns a 1988 Corvette and a 1998 Fire Bird. He said he likes to play basketball, pool and ping pong when he has free time. </p>

<p>Pedraza said there was a time when “I felt like everything was going to fall apart,” he said. He had applied to Notre Dame, Princeton and Harvard and had not gotten any acceptance letters. </p>

<h2>A little while later, while visiting the Notre Dame campus in Indiana, he found out he had been accepted to all three schools. It was then that the words his mother had told him came back to him. “All the hard work pays off in the end.” </h2>

<p>Jason, welcome to Princeton!</p>

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<p>Nice article, just wondering though PtonGrad2000, how do you find these articles???</p>

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<p>Silver, I’d love to meet Jason and I’m glad you enjoyed the article.</p>

<p>There’s no secret to finding such articles. I just set up some simple Google news searches with email notification. Being accepted to Princeton is a big news story in many smaller towns so there are quite a few stories that show up in the local press. I post only those that I think are interesting for one reason or another. In this case, I found Jason to be the kind of person I’d love to have as a classmate, so I posted the story.</p>

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<p>in this part of the world where I live, you only get into the news if you get into HARRRRRVVAAAAAAAARRRD…</p>

<p>LOL</p>