When dozens of local teenagers trade in their red and navy uniforms for square hats and flammable nylon robes, it must be the commencement season.
This Wednesday evening, 140 Secaucus High School students will take their turn listening to speeches about the future – thus marking that time-honored ritual known as graduation.
However, even though every graduation ritual is similar, each class is unique.
Asked to comment on this year’s class, Secaucus High School Principal Pat Impreveduto didn’t hesitate.
“You know, every year the number of graduates who choose to continue their education goes a little bit each year,” Impreveduto said. “I think that speaks to both the high level of academic achievement of our students and to their desire to attain advanced education and training for their own futures.”
Of the 140 students graduating, he added, 137 of them plan to attend college in the fall. One student will attend trade school. Two students plan to enter the workforce immediately.
The class includes a West Point cadet, several recipients of the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence, and New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) scholarship recipients.
“This is one of the most well-rounded classes we’ve had,” Impreveduto said. “This is a class that is not only academically gifted and academically inclined, but also a class that is uniquely interested in giving back to the community.”
A look at this year’s valedictorian and salutatorian also bears this out.
Service above self
Zachary Dreiss, this year’s valedictorian, is graduating with a 4.25 grade point average. Dreiss, who will be heading to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the fall to study electrical engineering, credits Secaucus High with giving him solid preparation for college.
“I took physics in my sophomore year and I guess it was from that point that I decided that I wanted to go into electrical engineering,” Deiss said. “It took engineering again this year and I felt these courses have prepared me well enough that I’m ready to learn about it more at the college level.”
Dreiss, who is also plays bass drum and snare drum, took both honors physics and Advanced Placement (AP) physics. He also found time to volunteer with Wrap 4 a Smile and People to People International, where he worked in homeless shelters. Next year, he said, he hopes to continue his interest in housing issues.
“I know Rensselaer has a Habitat for Humanity program, so I think I might do that,” Dreiss added.
Dreiss’ classmate, salutatorian Ronak Dave, plans to study aerospace engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
“As a kid, I always wanted to be an astronaut and that developed into an interest in flying,” Dave recalled. “I’d see a plane a wonder how do you make something that big fly. Once I started taking science classes in high school, that evolved into an understanding of how it worked. But then I wondered if I could make it better.”
Dave said he hopes to make flight more innovative by making it more environment friendly and by using alternative fuels.
Both Dave and Dreiss participated in the high school’s Science and Math Academy, which offers advanced classes to students planning careers in science.
“The course load we take in the academy is really rigorous,” Dave said. “By the time you’re in your senior year, you’ve taken five AP classes, which are basically college-level classes. They leave you really prepared for your freshman year of college.”
President of the school’s National Honor Society, Dave is graduating with a GPA of 4.07, was the drum major of the marching band, and like Dreiss he also played soccer.
Academic awards
In addition to Dreiss and Dave, a number of other graduates this year have good reason to be proud of their accomplishments. In an evening ceremony held on June 8, some 70 students received 61 academic scholarships, athletic awards, and other commendations.
Howard Allen, Dominic Arcuri, Brian Beckmeyer, Jillian Bovino, Arshi Chadha, Daniele Kyle, Ronak Dave, Zachary Dreiss, Christopher Jandreau, Jessica Kalisch, Hera Kalu, Imaad Khaja, Christina Khan, Gina Mazza, Christian Mercado, Rahed Mohammed, Thanh Nhan Nguyen, Pier Paolo Pala, Madeline Perez, Kris Pesci, Kristina Rayes, Bhumi Shah, Basil Shahin, Indra Sutrisno, Michella Vega, and Rebecca Zulauf all received the Presidents Award for Educational Excellence.
Presidential Award recipients Allen, Dave, Dreiss, and Vega were all named Bloustein Distinguished Scholars as well.
Recipients of the NJSIAA scholarship included Dreiss, Shah, and Shahin.
Finally, at the June 8 ceremony Pesci received his certificate of appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an $80,200 scholarship for his studies at the elite institute.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.