2 seniors to share honors
as Lakewood valedictorians
By Joyce Blay
Staff Writer
LAKEWOOD — Lakewood High School will hold its annual graduation ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Russell E. Wright football field behind the Lakewood Middle School. In the event of rain, the ceremony will be held in the high school gymnasium.
There will be two valedictorians at the ceremony this year, Assistant Principal Jovita Francis said. Seniors Rachel Baer and Sara Colucci, both 17, will share the honor of addressing their graduating class.
"We have a tie for valedictorian, so both will be speaking," Francis said. "When we have a tie for valedictorian, there is no salutatorian. Three or four years ago there was a three-way tie for valedictorian and all three spoke."
Francis said there would also be a student speaker chosen to address the graduating class. "We allow students to compete for student speaker," she said. "(That person) will be a graduating senior (chosen by) a judging panel comprised of the principal, myself and English teachers. The winner will be the student judged to have given the best-written speech that was the most effectively delivered."
Both valedictorians have achieved distinshe said. "That was what I have been working for all these years."guished academic careers during their high school years.
Colucci said she scored a combined 1180 on the SAT and that her cumulative grade point average of 3.9 had been the reason she was awarded the A.J. Drexel Scholarship to Drexel University in Philadelphia. She said she will be studying digital media and hopes to be trained for a career in computer game design. "I love games and I’ve always played them, so I was very interested in doing it," Colucci said. "And Drexel has a very good program in it, too."
Colucci will receive a $1,000 scholarship each from the Lakewood Education Association; the Lakewood High School Alumni Scholarship; Fairways at Lake Ridge Women’s Club; the United Adult Communities Scholarship; and the Lakewood Police Department/DARE Scholarship. She also received the Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar Award.
Baer also earned a 3.9 grade-point average. Her combined SAT score was 1310. Baer, a gifted math student, said she scored a 730 out of 800 on the mathematics portion of the SAT. She will be attending the University of Delaware in the fall and said she had received numerous scholarships to help pay for her education there.
Baer, a talented cook as well as a disciplined scholar, she said she would major in nutritional science in the fall.
"I might go into dietetics since I like food and health," she said. "I love to cook and I enjoy making my own chicken alfredo. I might like to be a sports nutritionist someday."
Baer said she was always focused on achieving good grades.
"I really enjoyed high school, and I made up my mind that I wanted to be valedictorian when I was younger," she said. "That was what I have been working for all these years."