BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
Edison EDISON — If he could describe the class of 2005 in one word, that word would be “caring.”
That’s what J.P. Stevens High School Principal Fred Riccio said impressed him most about the highly competitive graduating class.
After the group of 560 got their diplomas on June 16, Riccio took a moment to brag about the class of “academically strong kids with a strong commitment to one another and the community.”
Riccio called the graduates a class in a class of its own, with 95 percent slated to attend two and four-year colleges in the fall. He called them community-minded scholars.
“I have no doubt that this class will be successful in the future because of the students’ drive, intelligence and the kinds of things they have already done for the people in the community,” he said. “They were always reaching out, whether it was by tutoring in the elementary schools, putting together a senior citizens’ prom, volunteering at hospitals, helping families in need or extending their help for Tsunami relief. They were forever packaging up things for people in need or lending a hand in some way.”
Not only was the class of 2005 thought of as community and academically minded, it was known for musical excellence and athletic achievement.
“The band is excellent,” Riccio said. “And the girls’ tennis, basketball and softball teams won county, conference and state sectional championship recognition.”
And the statistics on academic excellence speak for themselves, Riccio said.
“It’s probably one of the strongest classes that has come through J.P. Stevens,” he said. “This class had the 23rd highest SAT average in the state. We had 18 National Merit Scholarship finalists, which could be the top number in the state, and well over $1 million in scholarships were awarded.”
The top student in the class was valedictorian Du Xu, who will be attending Cornell University in New York in the fall to study “something in the sciences,” Riccio said.
Xu personifies the well-rounded mentality of the class, he added.
“He has an outstanding record and a great capacity to not only succeed, but to care about others,” Riccio said. “The whole class is like that. It’s a wonderful group of kids.”