Homepage | Archives | Calendar of Events | Exploring Akron | Lawn & Garden | Death Notices | Get email news alerts | About Us
Education

Area students excel academically

6/28/2012 - West Side Leader
      permalink bookmark

By Ariel Hakim

GREATER AKRON — The West Side Leader enlisted the help of officials from the high schools in the paper’s coverage area to help feature their top graduating seniors, and compiled the information we received to showcase those honored.

We asked the schools to tell us about the top 10 students in their graduating class, including names, class rankings, what colleges they plan to attend and whether they received any scholarships. We also asked how many students graduated, along with the number of students in the senior class. Also, we asked how many seniors received scholarships and the total amount of money earned by the graduating class.

We have printed their responses below. Valedictorians, salutatorians, and in one case, a Dominican Scholar, are indicated in bold type, with asterisks (*) next to the valedictorians. In most cases, the lists of top 10 students appear in order of how the students were ranked.

Some school officials noted they do not keep track of the scholarships received, but if they did tell us, we printed it. Many of the schools chose not to tell us how many seniors were in their classes.

Despite our best efforts to obtain the requested information and photos of the top 10 students or a group photo of those students, some schools did not submit the requested information.

ARCHBISHOP HOBAN HIGH SCHOOL

Valedictorian Lyndsay Huth Salutatorian Kristin Brennan
Valedictorian Lyndsay Huth Salutatorian Kristin Brennan
Valedictorian Lyndsay Huth Salutatorian Kristin Brennan
Valedictorian Lyndsay Huth Salutatorian Kristin Brennan
Valedictorian Lyndsay Huth Salutatorian Kristin Brennan
Photos courtesy of Archbishop Hoban High School

Graduates: 214

Senior class: 214

Scholarships received: 150 seniors (70 percent of the class)

Value of scholarships: more than $16.8 million

Archbishop Hoban officials reported all top 10 students were offered scholarships and/or awards from a variety of sources. Among those, six students were awarded money from the colleges they have chosen to attend.

1. Lyndsay Huth*, University of Notre Dame

2. Kristin Brennan, University of Notre Dame

3. Caren Dieglio, University of Pittsburgh

4. Ileana Horattas, The University of Akron

5. Kellie Tomin, University of Notre Dame

6. Abbey Dankoff, University of Notre Dame

7. Madison Kaser, The University of Akron

8. Jake Pelini, The Pennsylvania State University

9. Ryan Will, The Pennsylvania State University

10. Taylor Eckman, John Carroll University

BUCHTEL HIGH SCHOOL

Graduates: 135

1. Deon Coleman*, Kent State University

2. Recarlton Buchanan, Cuyahoga Community College

3. Dasia Andrus, Kent State University

4. Kaleeya Knight, Regency Beauty Institute

5. Jade Shropshire, Kent State University

6. Terrane Gainer, The Ohio State University

7. Torrianna Wright, The University of Toledo

8. Briana Chargualaf, The University of Akron

9. Teneisha Brown, The University of Akron

10. Ernest Calhoun, Kent State University

COPLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Co-valedictorian Jessica Alexander Co-valedictorian Michael Dugan
Photos courtesy of Copley High School

Graduates: 279

Senior class: 281

Scholarships received: 110 seniors

Copley High School officials submitted a list of the top 5 percent of their graduating class, printed below. Of the 15 students listed below, eight received scholarships from the colleges they have chosen to attend, and 12 received scholarships from other sources, according to school officials.

1. Jessica Alexander*, Ohio Northern University

1. Michael Dugan*, University of Pittsburgh

2. Jeffrey Wang, Duke University

2. Victoria Yang, Cornell University

3. Dennis Check, The Ohio State University

3. Nicholas Geisendorfer, Northwestern University

4. Anna Chen, University of Pittsburgh

5. Keval Yerigeri, Northeast Ohio Medical University 6. Olga Eliseeva, Case Western Reserve University

6. Christy Wiseman, The Ohio State University

7. Bethany Smeznik, Kent State University

8. Lyndsay Feather, Messiah College

9. Leah Blachaniec, Taylor University

9. Micki Gallien, U.S. Military Academy at West Point

9. Tyler Mastrangelo, The Ohio State University

CUYAHOGA VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

Valedictorian Christopher Karnadi Valedictorian Sarah MacIntosh
Salutatorian Benjamin
Pykare		 Salutatorian Clara King
Photos courtesy of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy

Graduates: 154

Senior class: 155

Scholarships received: 114 students

Value of scholarships: $9.7 million

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy school officials reported five of the top 10 students received scholarships; in addition, Moody Bible Institute, where three students have chosen to attend, is tuition-free, they noted.

1. Christopher Karnadi*, Moody Bible Institute

2. Sarah MacIntosh*, Azusa Pacific University

3. Benjamin Pykare, Moody Bible Institute

4. Clara King, Moody Bible Institute

5. Seong Eun “Annie” Cho, University of California, Berkeley

6. Katherine Flenniken, Grove City College

7. Ryan Mifflin, The University of Akron

8. William VanBuskirk, Purdue University

9. Adrienne Moncrief, Miami University

10. Mikayla Lowenkamp, The Ohio State University

FIRESTONE HIGH SCHOOL

Shown from left are Firestone High School valedictorians: (bottom row) Jennifer Gray, Lynn Barnes, Hannah Vegh, Alexis Dolin-Stevens, Lauren Herr, Jillian Stoneburg and Sarah Meek; and (top row) Katherine Gilbert, Matt McCans, Daniel Sokolov, Matthew Kinley, Matthew Harp and Rowan Matney.
Photo courtesy of Carmen Studio Photography Inc.

Graduates: 264

Scholarships received: 197

Value of scholarships: almost $3.7 million

Firestone High School named 13 valedictorians, printed below in order of ranking.

1. Jillian Stoneburg*, Michigan State University

2. Hannah Vegh*, University of Rhode Island

3. Rowan Matney*, Carlton College

4. Daniel Sokolov*, Emory University

5. Sarah Meek*, Geneva College

6. Lynn Barnes*, The Ohio State University

7. Matthew Harp*, The University of Akron

8. Lauren Herr*, The University of Akron

9. Matthew McCans*, Miami University

10. Katherine Gilbert*, Binghamton University

11. Alexis Dolin-Stevens*, Ohio Northern University

12. Jennifer Gray*, Delaware Valley College

13. Matthew Kinley*, Miami University

HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL

Shown from left are Highland High School’s Top 10 students for 2012: (back row) Andrew Petrilla, Ryan Sefcik, Edward Peck, Seth Scheetz, Cassandra DellaCorte and Amanda Hardman; and (front row) Grace Gaeckle, Taylor Domasky, Amy Tabar, Stephanie Horvath, Stephanie Sexton, Rachael Nicholas and Meredith Taylor.
Photo courtesy of Highland Local Schools

Graduates: 276

Scholarships received: nearly 90 students

Value of scholarships: more than $3.8 million

Highland Local Schools District officials reported that of the 13 students listed below, 12 received merit-based money from the colleges they plan to attend, eight of which were “full academic” scholarships. Also, three received scholarships from other sources.

1. Andrew Petrilla*, The Ohio State University

2. Seth Scheetz, University of Pittsburgh

2. Stephanie Sexton, University of Pittsburgh

3. Cassandra DellaCorte, University of Pittsburgh

4. Grace Gaeckle, Cleveland State University

5. Amy Tabar, Ohio Northern University

6. Edward Peck, The Ohio State University

6. Amanda Hardman, Brigham Young University

7. Stephanie Horvath, University of Cincinnati

7. Rachael Nicholas, Ohio Wesleyan University

8. Meredith Taylor, University of Dayton

9. Ryan Sefcik, The Ohio State University

10. Taylor Domasky, Case Western Reserve University or The Ohio State University

NORTON HIGH SCHOOL

Graduates: 179

Senior class: 182

1. Amanda Conklin, The Ohio State University

2. Julie Markovich, Kent State University

3. Katlyn Walker, Walsh University

4. Taylor Parks, Walsh University

5. Alison Dittmer, The University of Findlay

6. Collin Foltz, The Ohio State University

7. Kirsten Glas, The University of Akron

8. Elizabeth Hanna, The Ohio State University

9. Rose Nagy, The University of Akron

10. Amanda Horner, The University of Akron

OUR LADY OF THE ELMS HIGH SCHOOL

Valedictorian Catherine Culp Salutatorian Alicia DuBois Dominican Scholar Gwendolyn Kuzmishin
Photos courtesy of Our Lady of the Elms High School

Graduates: 43

Senior class: 43

Scholarships received: 36 students

Value of scholarships: more than $5.8 million in renewable scholarships

Our Lady of the Elms High School officials reported that 100 percent of graduating students received college acceptances. Among the top 10 students, eight students received scholarships from the colleges they have chosen to attend. Also, the school does not rank students except for the top three in order to determine a valedictorian, salutatorian and Dominican Scholar, listed below in that order. Besides the top three, the students are listed below in alphabetical order.

1. Catherine Culp*, Case Western Reserve University

2. Alicia DuBois, Georgetown University

3. Gwendolyn Kuzmishin, The College of Wooster

Daria Chalupa, Whittier College

Ann Drude, Northwestern University

Mara Esber, Xavier University

Emmaline Fisher, Georgia Institute of Technology

Youhong Guo, University of California, San Diego

MacKenzie Lee, John Carroll University

Jessica Pasternak, Cleveland Institute of Music

REVERE HIGH SCHOOL

Valedictorian Yi “Annie” Sun Valedictorian Xintong “Cindy” Lin
Salutatorian Daniel Li Salutatorian Edwin Zhang
No. 5 Student Adam DeLong No. 6 Student Samuel Kuo
No. 7 Student Leon Zhang No. 8 Student Alexsandra Kovacevich
No. 9 Student Maria Pantich No. 10 Student Neil Taylor
Photos courtesy of Revere High School

Graduates: 223

1. Yi “Annie” Sun*, Dartmouth College

1. Xintong “Cindy” Lin*, California Institute of Technology

2. Daniel Li, Duke University

2. Edwin Zhang, Yale University

5. Adam DeLong, Northwestern University

6. Samuel Kuo, The Ohio State University

7. Leon Zhang, The Ohio State University

8. Alexsandra Kovacevich, The Ohio State University

9. Maria Pantich, The Ohio State University

10. Neil Taylor, The Ohio State University

ST. VINCENT-ST. MARY HIGH SCHOOL

Valedictorian Hanna Roberts
Photo courtesy of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School

Graduates: 153

Scholarships received: 67 percent of the senior class

Value of scholarships: more than $13.5 million

St. Vincent-St. Mary High School officials noted 92 percent of seniors were accepted at their first choice of colleges. Also, school officials reported that all of the top 10 students received scholarship money from the colleges they have chosen to attend.

1. Hannah Roberts*, Capital University

2. Erin Farrell, West Virginia University

3. Nicole Almenar, The Ohio State University

4. RoseMary Klein, Kent State University

5. Christine Howe, The University of Akron

6. Sasha Kovalchick, The Ohio State University

7. Sean Poholski, University of Pennsylvania

8. John Friess, The University of Akron

9. Kyle Hochevar, The Ohio State University

10. Katherine Paydo, Kent State University

WALSH JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL

Derek Allman Stephanie Fabry
Brenna Haag Aaron Howkins
Michael Hudock James Moley
Laurie O’Riordan Marissa Ruggiero
Madison Sheppard Stephany Tabet
Photos courtesy of Walsh Jesuit High School

Graduates: 212

Senior class: 212

Scholarships received: 77 percent of the total class (164 out of 212 students) received merit-based money from schools

Value of scholarships: more than $20 million

Walsh Jesuit High School officials stated they do not choose a valedictorian or salutatorian, nor do they rank students. Below the top 10 students are listed in alphabetical order. School officials also reported that nine of the 10 listed accepted merit-based scholarships to the colleges they plan to attend.

Derek Allman, The Ohio State University

Stephanie Fabry, The Ohio State University

Brenna Haag, The Ohio State University

Aaron Howkins, The University of Akron

Michael Hudock, University of Dayton

James Moley, University of Notre Dame

Laurie O’Riordan, Boston College

Marissa Ruggiero, University of Notre Dame

Madison Sheppard, Northeast Ohio Medical University

Stephany Tabet, The Ohio State University

WOODRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

Graduates: 153

Senior Class: 153

Scholarships received: 53 seniors

Value of scholarships: more than $3 million

Woodridge High School officials reported that $375,000 in scholarship money was received by the top 10 students.

1. Angelina Moore*, Ohio University

2. Alexander Minns*, The Pennsylvania State University

3. Alexander Spenik*, John Carroll University

4. Sara Bickett*, Walsh University

5. Shervon Preston*, Kent State University

6. Kayla Soldat, Walsh University

7. Nathan Tompkin, Case Western Reserve University

8. Allison King, The Ohio State University

9. Ashley Christopher, John Carroll University

10. Kristen Johnson, The University of Akron

      permalink bookmark