Reaching a New High: Meet the Unexpecting 2026 College of Engineering Valedictorian

Before Lorenzo High knew he was the 2026 College of Engineering Valedictorian, he wasn't sure he was going to walk at graduation.

High completed his undergrad at Utah State University in electrical engineering in December 2025 — an off-semester — so walking the stage didn't even cross his mind. Instead, he was preparing for his current pursuit: a master's degree at USU in electrical engineering and signal processing.

"It just seemed like a lot of signal processing was like magic," said High on his area of study.

High has had the unique opportunity of applying his education and signal processing "magic" in real-time to his work at Space Dynamics Lab in Logan where he is part of a groundbreaking research team.

"It's been fun because I'll work on something at SDL and then go take a class the same day and be like ‘Oh, this is like what I'm trying to do at work,'" said High.

His experience working in industry has aligned with the area of engineering he values — its impact.

"It makes a difference, it's keeping people safe, it's meaningful to somebody," he said. "I think that's meaningful to me."

High also completed several systems engineering internships at L3Harris and was a member of the Utah State Get Away Special team for three years.

This physics department team enables students to gain hands-on experience with satellites. High supported the team's objective of placing an antenna over a solar panel on the same side of a satellite.

High enjoyed the team because, "when you learn things in classes, you can see how it will apply to a real project."

In collaboration with USU professor Reyhan Baktur, the team is using a transparent patching technique that includes what High describes as a "space-grade saran wrap" to achieve their objective.

After all the classes, team projects and internships, it was time for High to head to graduate school.

But wait, how did he learn that he had been selected as the valedictorian?

Invited to meet with Dean David Jones, High thought he was simply receiving congratulations for being selected as the Distinguished Senior. What happened next was quite a surprise.

High was told he received a new award, to which he responded with confusion. "Yeah, you're the valedictorian," Jones said. "No one has told you?"

High later texted his parents, "I guess I'm going to walk at graduation," to which his mom texted, "?."

In April 2026, his parents, brothers, sister and girlfriend attended convocation to celebrate his achievement, hear his speech, and, yes, see him walk the stage at graduation.

In his speech, High focused on the support he received in times of defeat and having the courage to do things differently.

"Will you accept things for the way that they are," High asked his graduating class. "Or will you be the person who chooses to change things for the world?"

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