Fortener earns Salutatorian

By KRISTIN SHERRARD BECK ‘05

Presentation Academy

Salutatorian Abby Fortener plans to take her love for math and science and apply it toward the digital world. She will major in computer science and engineering from University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering and work in either software development or cyber security.

Abby said she is very math/science oriented, listing chemistry, physics and geometry as her favorite classes at Pres. However, she also really enjoyed her senior English class.

During her time at Pres, Abby took the following classes for college credit: AP human geography, dual credit U.S. history, dual credit honors English and dual credit honors calculus. She also took public speaking, statistics, trigonometry and American Sign Language online through Jefferson Community and Technical College.

In addition to taking challenging classes, Abby was a four-year member of the Topper volleyball team. She played volleyball since first grade and competed at KIVA for four years and with Unity Volleyball Club for three years. During her senior season, she was nominated for Volleyball Player of the Year by the Courier Journal, finishing fifth in the state with an average of 7.44 digs per game.

Abby said some of her favorite memories are from playing volleyball. “I loved being around some of my best friends and playing together,” she said. “I’ll miss having the practices and tournaments and just being in each other’s company.”

Abby was a member of the Prezettes, as well as National Honor Society, St. Joseph of Arimathea and Y-Club.

As the daughter of a teacher, Abby learned early on about the importance of balance and putting school first before extracurriculars. She credits her mom for teaching her about responsibility and pushing her to do her best.

Heading into college, Abby said she feels more prepared because she was able to take dual credit and college courses during high school. The JCTC online classes, in particular, taught her about the importance of personal responsibility because there was a lot of self-teaching involved.

As the only person to come to Pres from her grade school, St. Patrick, Abby said she learned how to get out of her comfort zone and make new friends. She became a better communicator and learned how to work both independently and as a member of a team. “Pres prepared me for the future by showing me how to make relationships with people no matter who they were,” she said.

Abby said she will miss the small community of Pres and how close, not only the students are, but the faculty and staff with the students. In her salutatorian speech to her classmates at Baccalaureate Mass, Abby said, “Whatever comes next, I know we will face it with confidence and courage, not just because of what we learned but because of who we’ve learned it with.”