CHS Valedictorian Earns Dual Degrees

By Misty Cryer

Just three and a half years ago, Riley Antiporda stood at the podium at Carlsbad High School, addressing his classmates as the Valedictorian of the Class of 2022. In December of 2025, the Carlsbad native reached another academic milestone: graduating from NMSU-Las Cruces with Highest Honors.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Physics. He shared his future plans along with his journey so far.

After graduating from NMSU, Riley returned to Carlsbad. “I’ve decided to take a break from engineering before going back and working. I’m just going to serve—especially the youth in Carlsbad and my church and the schools,” he said.

Last summer, when Riley was home from school, he said he began working with a pastor at St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church on a youth ministry. “We started a weekly youth night and some other things with the middle- and highschoolers, so I’m continuing that and trying to build it to make it a little bit bigger and set it up so it can continue after I leave at some point,” he said.

With the schools, Riley said he is trying to get hired as a substitute teacher. Through a part-time position, he said he would have the opportunity to observe the environment most young people experience in schools. By being in the same environment as the youth, he aims to understand what’s going on with them, what kind of lives they have, and to hopefully be someone in the institution who sees them as they are, while giving them the attention that they need.

“Careerwise, I’m looking at going to grad school to get a master’s degree in aerospace engineering,” said Riley. He said many different things can be accomplished with that degree, though he hasn’t quite decided which route he will take. “I think that will be the next step for me is to continue my education,” he said.

His older brother, Logan, Riley said, has definitely been the most inspirational to him in his studies and life. “He is the reason I was even interested in doing engineering at all because in high school, he took engineering classes that they had at the high school, which made me realize, ‘Hey, I can do that too,’” he said.

Riley said he took the same classes as Logan—earning college credits in high school through dual-credit and AP classes—and ended up with two degrees in engineering.

“He has always been very good at school, very studious, very smart. I’ve looked up to him since I was little. I followed him into NMSU as well. I’ve always looked up to him, and he’s always had my back,” said Riley about Logan.

Evan, Riley’s younger brother, just started at NMSU this fall as well, said Riley.

“I really liked Las Cruces. It is pretty similar to Carlsbad, just bigger; it’s a college town,” said Riley. “I met interesting people, always interesting conversations to have, in addition to the studies. Just being part of Las Cruces, the city, and getting to know people from across the city—that’s what I enjoyed the most,” he said, also expressing appreciation for the guys he lived with in the dorms and the roommates he had later.

The hardest thing about college, Riley said, was having his own idea of what he was doing challenged. “Engineering is not exactly what I thought it would be, not that it’s bad,” he said, adding that he learned he had to shift his expectations to understand what it really was that he was getting into.