by Levi Brandenburg
The Paducah Sun
December 13, 2022
Used with permission.
Paducah Tilghman High School senior Leon dos Remedios has varied interests — including swimming and music — and he’s eyeing a future in technology after he graduates.
The 17-year-old student has done much in his short time at Paducah Tilghman, participating in the swim team as well as a wide variety of extracurriculars.
“Swim team has definitely helped keep me in shape for the last 11 years of my life,” Dos Remedios said.
“I really have to learn how to schedule myself because swimming takes up so many hours of the day. I used to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to practice in the morning and then I go to school and practice again in the afternoon. So, I really just had to learn a lot about disciplining myself, keeping my priorities straight and try and train my body to its absolute limit.”
In addition to providing Dos Remedios with a way to work out, the swim team has also provided him with a community of like-minded people.
“We all are almost like a family,” he said. “We all eat meals together after the swim meets. We all cheer each other on during our races. We just try to be one big family.”
While swimming with the school team and Paducah Swim Team, Dos Remedios has competed at state many times and helped to teach young swimmers as they joined the sport.
He has also been in many clubs and organizations during his time at PTHS, including the academic team, BETA Club, the Prime Rib a cappella group, PTHS Concert Choir, KMEA High School All-state Choir and more.
“Prime Rib really helped me to appreciate music more,” Dos Remedios said.
“I’ve always been a musical kid. I’ve been playing piano for 10 years, I was in the middle school band and I’ve been in the Paducah Tilghman High School choir since freshman year. But being able to not only just do music, but perform in front of people was something that I never realized that I really liked doing so much until Prime Rib. It expanded me to different musical genres and I just never would have been able to perform in front of people if it weren’t for Prime Rib.”
Music has always been an interest of his as he has moved through his life.
“I absolutely love piano and everything that has been given to me throughout piano,” Dos Remedios said.
“It was my first real experience with music and everything that music has to offer. My teacher has been a very good mentor to me for the past 10 years over musicality and things like that. It’s taught me to appreciate classical music and all of the older genres of music, while also being able to enjoy newer music on the piano.”
Dos Remedios, son of Bob and Gigi dos Remedios of Paducah, is this week’s Murray State University Teen of the Week.
Each Tuesday, The Sun publishes articles on outstanding regional high school seniors. From the final 32 students chosen, one will be chosen as the Teen of the Year around the end of the school year. They will receive a $5,000 scholarship. A second student will receive the Inspiration Award and a $1,000 scholarship.
He has a passion for computer science born from his younger interests.
“When I was younger, and still today, I am big into video games,” he said.
“I play them all the time with my friends and my brothers. I just love video games. It always just amazed me how just this machine that you plug into a wall could generate these images that you could interact with and play with for hours a day and completely mesmerize you.”
This fascination has led to his plans for the future. Having already received several certifications in coding languages, such as Python, JavaScript and HTML, Dos Remedios plans to major in computer science in college and hopefully transition to a large tech company beyond that.
“These past four years have probably been the fastest years of my childhood,” he said. “(Underclassmen) should just slow down and try not to rush through so much. Take your time and enjoy what’s going on around you — you don’t have to be perfect. Focus on yourself and take your time.”