This article is part of a series of profiles of 2025 graduating seniors in Salem high schools that will be published over the coming week. See the full series here.

Edgar Duran Alvarez distinguished himself by actually doing the calculus homework his teacher assigned.

He was such a reliable student at McKay High School that teacher Emily York teared up recounting his hard work in her class.

The respect is mutual.

“I would not be where I am at if it wasn’t for the teachers that I have,” Duran Alvarez said. “I love every single teacher that I’ve had. I love them. And I appreciate the work that they put in with their students.” 

York began tearing up. 

“I’m not crying,” she said. 

It was York, Duran Alvarez said, that pushed him to excel in his Advanced Placement calculus class, earning him a recognition for achievement in mathematics from the Optimist Club of Salem and a dozen college credits as he prepares to take the next steps in his life. 

York said her former student stood out from the rest because he constantly asked questions and wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. It was his fearless approach that gave him an edge in class.  

Now that Duran Alvarez is officially a “visitor” at McKay, having graduated Friday, he is focused on getting his body in shape. He ships off to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in August where he will go through basic military training to serve as a combat medic for the U.S. Army National Guard.

After serving, he plans to return to Salem and begin taking classes at Chemeketa Community College and eventually pursue a career as a pediatrician. 

Despite his focus on the medical field, Duran Alvarez said there is one thing that his future career must involve in some capacity: math. 

“You can apply math anywhere. Genuinely anywhere. That’s what I love about it. It is so versatile,” he said. “Once you figure out that puzzle, you can apply it to every single one of those problems.”

“Once I figure it out,” he snapped his fingers, “Everything is solved.”

Typically, York said, nearly half the students in her calculus class drop out because it requires too much work for the average student to handle. Duran Alvarez stuck around, asking all the right questions and making tons of mistakes. 

He also put in the hard work required for success. 

“Definitely two years ago as a sophomore, he was a lot lazier, because he was so smart, and he’s like, ‘I can do this with my eyes closed, I don’t have to work,’’ York said. “Then things started to creep up on him that he actually had to do some work…one thing I love about Edgar in a math class is that he is not afraid to make mistakes. He is going to try something and see if it works. And then when he makes a mistake, he doesn’t make that same mistake again.” 

Duran Alvarez also found a love of tutoring during his time in high school. He helped younger students with algebra and found that he likes guiding others to figure out math problems just as much as figuring them out himself.

“Making them have that lightbulb moment, that’s what I love,” Duran Alvarez said.

Duran Alvarez is bilingual in English and Spanish and has guided Spanish-speaking students through algebra problems. His teachers found this to be rather useful and encouraged him to consider a career as a math teacher at McKay in the future. 

“In five years I’ll be retired and we are going to need a Spanish speaking math teacher,” York said to Duran Alvarez. “If you became a teacher, would you think about coming back and teaching at McKay?” 

Without batting an eye Duran Alvarez said,“most definitely.”

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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