Brenden Denti is a senior at JFKMHS. He is captain of the football team and the boys’ track & field throwing team. Brenden plans to go to Kean University where he hopes to have more freedom. High school has allowed him to create new memories and helped him discover his true self. Brendon is prepared to take the next step in life and will be able to persevere through whatever life throws at him.
What do you plan on majoring in while at Kean, and what made you decide that?
Brenden: I plan on majoring in psychology; I was always that friend in middle school everyone would go to talk to for advice.
Who is someone who shaped you into the person you are today?
My mom, I’m pretty sure, yeah. I love my moms.
What was your favorite memory while here at JFK and why?
It’d probably have to be winning divisions this year for football because I’ve been playing football for 6 years, I’ve never had a winning season, and then we just go and beat teams, that’s just something I’m not going to ever forget.
Going into high school, how did you imagine it would be? Was it like how you expected?
I got the expectation from my brother because … he graduated, but he also graduated through Covid so I guess I didn’t expect much … hearing then I thought it would be more fun in middle school because middle school is kind of like ‘ehhh.” It’s the time where everyone is transitioning and we’re all funky little creatures … People are dropping friends, people are starting drama and high school is the place you can finally be yourself without getting judged. There’s so much here, and there’s so many people you meet. I just feel like high school created more opportunities.
If you were to shout out one teacher, who would it be and what would you say?
It would probably have to be Mrs. Duran, even though people be like “she’s just a gym teacher,” but she was basically my mom at the school, she is to most people, but I feel like me and Mrs. Duran have a good relationship where … it’s almost different from others because she’s a teacher. I can just honestly just talk too and she understands and relates to me because she has kids herself. I would say she doesn’t understand how much she’s gotten me through high school, like the advice, just talking to her. She doesn’t understand that she means a lot not only to me, but to a lot of other students.
What hobbies do you have, and what got you into them?
Come on, bruh, I’m a fisherman. What got me into that hobby is my dad always took me when I was little, but because of me and my brothers age gap, were six years [apart], he started working more and my brother had to do this, and I had to do that, so there was a point where I didn’t fish for like 10 years straight. So one day I was like, ‘I just want to go,” so ever since then, I’ve been on my own, but my dad was the key to it all.
What are you looking forward to in college?
What I’m looking forward to is more free time, because … You think you’d get used to waking up so early, but I can’t do it. I’ve been waking up at 7 a.m., what? 18 years of my life, it feels like I’ve been waking up early every single day for school, so for me, it’s the free time. I can schedule my classes when I want … I get more time, that’s what I’m looking forward to.
What are you most proud of right now and why?
Probably who I am today, because I feel like everything I went through, I wouldn’t have got there without myself and all the things I had to go through. Yeah, I would probably be most proud of myself because I think Brenden did good. Yeah, Brenden did good.
What’s the best advice you have ever received?
My mom’s always saying, ‘if you just believe and try hard, you’ll just get what you want,’ so I feel like my mom gives good advice because she just makes me push myself further and further. So probably my mom, because she gives the best advice.
Are there some tips you have for incoming freshmen?
You know when you’re in elementary school and you hear stuff like, ‘this stuff isn’t gonna fly in middle school’ or when you get to middle school and [Teachers] be like ‘this isn’t gonna happen in high school’?
Teachers have just been stressing us out since the beginning of time – since the beginning of school, so my tip would be, don’t believe everything you hear … its not always true, so that would probably be my tip.
