Kids these days. It’s a common refrain with each generation. Google defines this effect as: “The incorrect belief that children in the present are substantively different and necessarily worse than children a generation or two ago.” Even Google knows that it’s a myth, but we have gone a step further and ventured out into our community to prove that kids these days are, in fact, exceptional. Well, at least ten of them are (plus a bunch more who would have made the cut if we were featuring twenty or thirty of Westport, Weston and Wilton’s finest young folks).
Staples High School, Weston High School, Wilton High School, Greens Farms Academy, Fairfield Prep, St. Luke’s, King School and Wooster School submitted their most impressive upperclassmen from our towns, and the pool is brimming and bright with: nationally ranked athletes, political prodigies, environmental stewards, award-winning artists, published writers, multilingual phenoms, school ambassadors and budding medical researchers. Each of our finalists juggles a mind-boggling schedule of academic and extracurricular activities, and every last one is a compassionate human being who proves: KIDS THESE DAYS ARE AWESOME.
DANIEL BABASHAK
Wilton High School
Daniel Babashak has a resume longer than all the laps he swims in the morning and loops of the track he runs in the evening, but two items stand out. First, Daniel is the Environmental Steward for the New Canaan Land Trust Hawkins Preserve on North Wilton Road—and that means a lot more than just holding a fancy title. Second, he secured $20,000 in Connecticut funding to rid Wilton High School’s cafeteria of plastic cutlery. Daniel, just a senior in high school, is already changing the world.
As sole steward of the Hawkins Preserve, Daniel has contributed to the local community by transforming overgrown and littered land into an environmental preserve with native plants and a restored historic stone wall. “Working year round since 2021, I have devoted at least three hours a week to restoring a mixed forest and meadow landscape by removing vines and invasive species, helping to rebuild a 550-foot historic stone wall and collecting litter,” he explains. “I’ve learned the hard lesson that many people care little for our local natural environment or the efforts of those trying to improve the landscape. The proof is in the bags of litter I pick up each month. It is tragic, really.” Daniel will not be deterred though. His long-term goal is to expand the meadow perimeter to facilitate easier maintenance in the future and public access.
His other passion project grew out of the realization that the plastic cutlery in cafeterias cannot be recycled and ultimately ends up in landfill or incinerators. Not one to sit idly by, Daniel worked with Senator Ceci Maher and secured a grant for stainless steel cutlery and a new commercial dishwasher in the Wilton High School cafeteria.
Daniel is president of WHS Class of 2025, captain of the Varsity Track and Field Team, vice president of the Spanish National Honor Society, and he also captained the Cross Country and Indoor Track and Field teams last year. He is a varsity swimmer and diver on the Wilton Y Wahoos Competitive Swim Team and has placed in Connecticut Swimming’s Top-16 List for the past eight years. He is especially proud to have placed third in the 5K at the 2023 Connecticut Swimming Open Water Championships, a new challenge for him. Daniel has played the cello for almost ten years and is a member of WHS’s Symphonic Orchestra and Tri-M Music Honor Society.
Daniel received the Gettysburg Award for Outstanding Achievement in American history, the 2024 CT Council of Language Teachers Award for Excellence in Spanish, and a Bronze and Silver Congressional Medal (achieved through hundreds of hours of volunteering, personal development and physical fitness). He is working toward the Gold Medal next.
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What is the greatest challenge you have overcome?
Every day is only 24 hours, so I practice time management to get healthy sleep. When I started to run high school cross country and track, I switched my afternoon swim workouts to 5:30 a.m. Morning swims and afternoon runs make for physically drained evenings. My greatest non-athletic challenge was definitely meeting the cello qualification standards for induction into Tri-M Music Honor Society. I practiced extra for months to humbly accept an invitation to play with this select group of WHS musicians. Along with Tri-M’s music-related volunteer service, I am looking forward to working on two solo performances this year.
What would you tell your freshman self?
Buy and hold Nvidia (NVDA) stock with every penny of your savings account!
Which teacher had the biggest impact on you?
I’ll answer this from a different angle and say that COVID-19 was the teacher with the biggest impact on me. It turned my Middlebrook Middle School experience upside down. However, in the years since, the pandemic taught me to appreciate my high school teachers’ and classrooms’ advantages—the discussions, the labs, the aha moments—that make my education valuable.
Words to live by?
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” —John F. Kennedy