PHS Valedictorian 2016
Tej Patel – Valedictorian
By Yesenia Garcia
A Valedictorian and Salutatorian breakfast was held on June 3, 2016 at The Brownstone. With graduation coming up, many are interested to know who will be the Valedictorian. Who will be number one after four years?
His name is Tej Patel. He is ranked number one out of 672 graduating seniors and has a GPA of 4.4073. He has not only upheld an outstanding academic standing but has also been part of many extracurricular activities.
During his four years in high school Tej has been a part of the Ski Club, the Chess Club along with being treasurer of the Octagon Club, and a part of the Senior Council. Not only has he been in clubs he has also played on the PHS Tennis team and has finished his senior year as a varsity player.
Apart from all of this Tej has also found ways to give back to our community and has done volunteer work. He has been involved in both Gift of Giving and the Senior Citizen Luncheon, activities set up by the Octagon Club, to give back to the community.
Being Valedictorian doesn’t mean doing good during the 10 months of school, it means working hard every day which is why Tej has also done summer enrichment programs at NJIT and William Paterson University every summer and that has helped him get a leg up on most students. He has also done Dual Enrolment Courses for both Pre-Calculus and English 3 AP. Being number one is also about the classes that you take and Tej has taken 10 AP classes in total. He took five AP classes last year and another five this year.
Anyone can take an AP class the hard part is passing the test and Tej has done that four times and was awarded the AP Scholar award and is waiting on his AP scores for this year.
Tej has also taken every opportunity offered to him and has had the privilege of being accepted into the National Honor Society as well as the American Legion New Jersey Boys State. One major victory that Tej has had was winning Homecoming King 2015 proving that you don’t need to be stereotypical to win.
Tej was asked how he felt about being Valedictorian and he surprisingly responded “I don’t really feel much, this isn’t a competition to me. I just come to school like everyone else and try to succeed in anything that I am given. Being number one is great, but I think of it more as a way to prepare for college.”
As for Tej’s future plans, he plans to attend NJIT in the fall and major in chemical engineering. He also plans to be in their honors program and continue challenging himself to learn as much as he possible.
PHS Salutatorian 2016
Vasu Patel – Salutatorian
By Yesenia Garcia
Accompanying Tej Patel at the Valedictorian and Salutatorian Breakfast at The Brownstone was Vasu Patel. Vasu is ranked two out of 672 seniors and has a GPA of 4.24, just behind Tej.
Vasu believes that it is important to do extracurricular activities in high school, to become involved in the school community. Vasu has been a part of the Ski club, Teen Summit, Octagon Club, Club Interact, Society of Hispanic Engineers, Hispanic Bar Association, LMTI and the Robotics Club. He certainly has been busy contributing to this school. He has also had the pleasure of been a part of the National Honor Society.
Vasu has taken every advantage that PHS has to offer to advance academically. He has participated in NJIT and William Paterson University enrichment programs as well as the William Patterson Aim High Program. The Aim High Program lets students dorm at William Paterson for three weeks and get a sense of what it’s like being away from home and a glimpse of college life. He has always challenged himself taking four or five AP classes his junior and senior year and passing the AP exam in May.
Vasu’s feelings about being salutatorian is basically vindication for his hard work. He said, “It’s an honor to be salutatorian because it exemplifies my academic achievement throughout my four years in high school.”
As Vasu leaves PHS, he is on his way to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and wishes to major in computer science. He has so far received a scholarship of $7,000 renewable each year and is waiting to receive more. There is no doubt that great things are coming Vasu’s way in the next couple of years.
