He is a competitive kayak fisherman, a member of the Oklahoma Indian Student Honor Society and National Honor Society, and is currently attending Harvard University.
Those are just some of the things that 2023 Epic graduate Luke Pelizzoni was able to accomplish while in high school.
Luke is also a historical transcriber for the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. He is also in the process of writing a paper on the history of his tribe in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation for potential publication.
This is made all the more impressive when you realize that Pelizzoni traveled the country throughout his high school years.
Pelizzoni’s family has been traveling the country in an RV for several years. So going to a brick-and-mortar school was impossible. Traveling the country hadn’t made his education harder, as he always put his education in the forefront, but it has given him a unique experience.
“Just as far as getting to step outside of my comfort zone, experiencing different cultures, different peoples, and I guess as far as gaining a certain level of knowledge about the diversity of humanity, especially in our country. You know, you’re not just looking at a single state or your single town. It’s been incredible to get to see all of that,” Pelizzoni said when he was awarded this year’s Outstanding Student Award.
This is one of the reasons that he had ended up in Epic.
He joined Epic when he was in eighth grade, and has been in Epic since. “With that lifestyle it was a perfect fit, and I’m so glad it was even an option,” he said.
As a citizen of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, Pelizzoni loves history and wants others to learn more about the tribe.
“After COVID, a lot of the speakers had passed away, and so that continuation of the tribal heritage, learning more about history in the tribe — history that is honestly not talked about outside of a small group of people. I think I’ve just been trying to take an active role in that kind of atmosphere and trying to do my part for the tribe,” Pelizzoni said.
Now in his first semester at perhaps the nation’s preeminent institution of higher learning, Pelizzoni said he chose Harvard because he wanted to study government. Harvard’s government program is among the best in the world.
From the nation’s backgrounds to the hallowed halls of Harvard, is there anything Pellizoni can’t do?
