Dr. Peter Olivieri has been the principal at Weehawken High School for more than two decades. During his tenure, Olivieri has seen his fair share of good students and graduating classes come and go, but he is especially proud of the Class of 2001.
“I think we peaked with [this] class, both academically and athletically,” Olivieri said. “Usually, our school doesn’t normally get that combination. But this year, we put it all together. The kids dedicated themselves to excelling in everything they did. It was a pleasure to watch it all unfold. It was a fabulous year.”
Eighty percent of the graduating class, some 62 students, will go to college. These students will receive more than $1 million in grants and aid combined.
“That’s an impressive total,” Olivieri said.
Angeli Leal, the class valedictorian, will head to Barnard College, affiliated with Columbia University, marking the third straight year that a Weehawken High School graduate will attend an Ivy League school. Jennifer Altarriba moved on to Harvard two years ago and Ingred Wilson went to Cornell last year.
Aurora Piacentino, the class salutatorian, will head to Baruch College.
Olivieri credited the success of the graduating class and college placement to the addition of a Scholastic Aptitude Test course offered by the district. The Princeton Review, long recognized for its efforts to improve SAT scores, taught the class in the district for the first time.
“I think the SAT course helped a great deal,” Olivieri said. “They know they have the talent. This was able to help bring it out more.”
Olivieri said that the students were able to become more aware of collegiate life when he took a group of 25 seniors on a tour of several colleges in Pennsylvania and Delaware for a weekend.
“They got a feel what it was like at schools outside the area,” Olivieri said. “I think this helped to make them more aware of other colleges.”
Olivieri credited the work of the school’s athletic teams, which reached new plateaus. The school’s football team won eight games, setting a new school record, and qualified for the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group I playoffs for the first time. The Indians also won their first round playoff game over New Milford before falling to Cresskill in the semifinals.
The school’s baseball team won the Bergen County Scholastic League National Division championship for the first time and won a school record of 21 games. The softball team won 13 games and qualified for the state playoffs for the first time.
“It really was a fantastic year, a perfect combination,” Olivieri said. “We have a great number of our students moving on to college to participate athletically, which doesn’t happen often.”
Michael Maione will go to Sacred Heart University in Connecticut to play football. Paul Vetter will play football at St. Peter’s College and Nadyr Albri will go to Rowan University, hoping to play football there as well.
Baseball standout Fernando Fuentes was recently drafted by the New York Yankees in the 36th round and has yet to decide whether he will sign a professional contract or go to play in junior college. Fuentes is the first Weehawken product to be selected in the Major League Baseball amateur draft.