Bio

In his brief time here on Earth, Patrick Michael Nyhan has done a lot of things. He has lived his entire life here in Burnt Hills, and he'd have it no other way. He's gone to BHBL since Kindergarten and actively participates in many extracurricular activities, becoming a key voice in Student Government, Drama Club, Spartan Broadcasting (founding member), Quiz Bowl, Tennis, Future Business Leaders of America, and numerous Honor Societies, among others.  He's always taken the most challenging courses available to him, and has always been a year ahead in most of his core classes. As of June 2023, Patrick has had the pleasure of taking 10 high school Honors and AP classes, as well as 6 college-level courses for credit through SUNY universities.

Using his natural love of learning and encyclopedic memory, Patrick latches on to and retains information like few others. From an early age, he took an extreme interest in nature and history. On the nature front, he especially loves birds, and read the Sibley's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America cover-to-cover for his Kindergarten independent reading book (much to Ms. Gurley's surprise). After memorizing it, he moved on to conquer the avian knowledge of the rest of America, and eventually the world. He is a registered New York gamekeeper, being the guardian of a flock of Northern Bobwhite Quail, which he raised from a group of one hundred in 2020 for release as a natural tick-control experiment. Today, he still cares for Bono, Bob White, Betty White, Zach, Steve, Wilson, Hank, and And Peggy. He also has an immense love for reptiles. Patrick always had a love for the scaly and slimy, but his obsession started sometime circa 2018, and he's  never looked back. He has kept three reptiles personally, an Abronia lythrochilia named Hermes, a rescued Bearded Dragon/Pogona vitticeps named Ozzy, and an Anolis barbatus named Ulysses. For the last two years, he's worked as an intern for Reptile Adventure educational programs. Patrick has also extensively researched natural history, with specific target on the Permian and Paleogene Periods (shoutout to all the Chalicothere fans out there!).

On the history front, Patrick's journey began in fourth grade, when two important incidents coincided: he learned about the 7 Years War and the American Revolution in schools, and Hamilton came out. Patrick found Hamilton through his Aunt and Uncle (who work in theater professionally) right before it struck well-deserved fame in 2015, and memorized every lyric over the span of a few days. From there on, he dove into early American history, learning the accomplishments and shortcomings of every US President, finding the consequences of wars, studying major political movements, and more. For his personal retrospective ranking of all US Presidents, click here (he is very proud of it). He has earned multiple award for his achievements in this field, such as the Social Studies Student of the Year, awarded annually to an eighth grader at BHBL (2020). This early love of history translated to a desire for a career in civil service. He has been an active part of student government since elementary school, where his elementary career peaked as Steven's School Treasurer, through to today, where he has served as the Class of 2024's Class President for two years. When he leaves for college, he hopes to study Economics and Social Sciences (most likely Political Science as a transition to law) in order to pursue a life of high-value civil service. He's lived in this community his whole life and has absolutely fallen in love with it. It is now his hope that he can become one of the invaluable people trusted to keep it wonderful and make it better.