Graduating as the valedictorian of his class, senior Dawson Franklin hit the ground running keeping busy the starting the day he walked through the front door of Bastrop High School. Franklin joined  NJROTC as a cadet his freshman year, played on the Bears soccer team for three years, and has been an active member of PALs, NHS and Key Club for the second half of his high school career. Franklin has also competed in UIL Academics with his hard work paying off when he placed 5th at the 2021 state competition.  Franklin plans to attend Rice University and major in mechanical engineering in the fall.

Franklin credits his achievement to a lot of hard work and commitment to academics combined with confidence and appreciation. While he has succeeded in earning the top accreditation Bastrop can provide, it hasn’t been without its challenges. For students following in Dawson’s dreams, his one big piece of advice is, “Don’t take six college classes your senior year.”   

Franklin’s educational career wouldn’t be as successful if it was not for teacher Trent Jimenez and his ability to teach students how to think critically. “Jimenez opened my eyes to a lot of parts of the world I never thought about in his world history class and again in the government class.”  One of the first times Franklin walked into AP World History, Mr. Jimenez prompted the class with an eye for an eye makes the world go blind thought. “That is the first time I had ever heard of anything like that and it was a big eye-opener,” said Franklin.  

“Thank you Mr. Jimenez for fostering my learning and pushing me to explore both government and history in a more subjective way instead of an objective way,” said Franklin. “I really appreciate all that you’ve done for me.’’