tight race for salutatorian
Academically, it’s hard
to tell twins apart too
James, Joseph Cagliostro finish high school in
tight race for salutatorian
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
Jeff Granit Joseph (l) and James Cagliostro end their high school academic careers separated by less than a quarter of a percentage point. By that slim margin, James will be honored as the Shore Regional High School’s salutatorian.
In a friendly family feud, James Cagliostro narrowly beat out his twin brother, Joseph, to become the salutatorian of the graduating class at Shore Regional High School.
Leonard G. Schnappauf, the superintendent and principal of the school, reported to the Shore Regional High School Board of Education that James had edged Joseph by a fraction of point in his grade average, 100.624 to 100.4, after four years.
The class valedictorian, Katlin Hampton of Oceanport, scored a stellar 101.966. A three-letter athlete in lacrosse, basketball and soccer, Katlin, the daughter of Eileen Hampton, will attend the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
The additional points above 100 result from extra credit for advanced classes.
When interviewed after the meeting, James and Joseph said they had been engaged in the brotherly rivalry ever since they started high school.
"In the first marking period of our freshman year, he was ahead of me," James said of his brother. "After that, I was ahead.
"Our grades were very close," he added. "We were in all the same classes."
Joseph also recalled how he bested James in the first marking period.
"Then Jimmy and I switched, and he was No. 1 and I was No. 2," he said.
Then Katlin stepped into the picture and seized the No. 1 spot in the third marking period, he continued. Joseph said James was No. 2 and he was No. 3.
"And that’s the way it remained throughout high school," Joseph said.
James said Joseph was happy for him becoming the salutatorian.
"It was a friendly competition," he asserted. "We were just happy that one of us got it."
"Yeah, I’m happy for him," Joseph said.
"It was a challenge for me all through school," he added. "Some classes were easy. Others were a real challenge."
"It was a friendly competition," he agreed.
James, who is the older twin by a minute, and Joseph are the sons of Ben and Bev Cagliostro and they plan to go to the same college their parents attended — Messiah College, a small Christian school of 2,500 in Gratham, Pa.
The boys said their parents met and were married at the college and their sister, Kristin, is going to school there now and is very happy.
In other action at the board meeting, the school received gifts of two defibrillators.
Carolann Macaluso, a retired teacher who lives in Ocean Township, gave the board a check for $3,000 to purchase a defibrillator in memory of her daughter, Maryellen, who was graduated from the Shore Regional High School in 1978 and died 11 years ago. She said her daughter would be 43 today.
Alice Ennis, a French teacher at Shore who was adviser to the class of 1999, presented the board with a check from the class of 1999 for $2,900 and change — the exact price — to purchase a defibrillator in memory of Frankie Caltibilota, a member of the class of 1999 who died in a dormitory fire at Seton Hall University on Jan. 19, 2000, when he was a freshman.
Diane Merla, board president, said one defibrillator will be kept outside by the athletic fields and the other inside the school by the nurse’s office.