Devin Moriarty hopes to support and guide future leaders as a teacher and will work toward that effort while majoring in education at Purdue University Calumet.

"I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in eighth grade," he said. "I originally wanted to be a history teacher, but developed a passion for literature."

Moriarty is an avid reader. His favorite authors include J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Orwell and Vonnegut. "My interests sway from one genre to the next so I pretty much read anything I can get my hands on," he said.

The son of Brian and Amy Moriarty of Lansing and 2009 graduate of Thornton Fractional South High School, Moriarty has one main reason for choosing this career path.

"I feel I want to pass on what I know to the younger generation to expose young people to the great works, the classics."

At TF South, Moriarty was involved in the literary magazine Rebelana. He did background graphics and some editing. As a freshman and sophomore he was active in Drama Club. He tried his hand at stage acting and worked behind the scenes helping build sets.

Moriarty graduated with a 4.2 grade-point average and ranked fifth in his class.

This summer he is working at Ace Hardware and has started volunteering at Humane Society Calumet Area in Munster. He also takes weekly guitar lessons.