Royal Pride: Port Jeff Announces Class of 2020 Top Two Students
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School is proud to announce that seniors
Christine Iasso and Kyle Onghai have been named valedictorian and
salutatorian, respectively, of the Class of 2020.
Christine’s well-rounded education and extracurricular activities
include being a member of the Academic team, Environmental Club,
Interact Club, Mathletes team, captain of the junior varsity basketball
team and a junior counselor at vacation Bible school. She also took
advantage of the impressive MIT LaunchX, a program that teaches
entrepreneurial skills and mindset through starting real companies, with
interactive lectures, business simulations, entrepreneur panels and the
actual design and launch of a company. Christine will major in
sustainable agriculture and food systems at the University of
California, Davis.
Kyle’s interests in math, investing, entrepreneurship, research and
scientific journals have paved the way to being a National Advanced
Placement Scholar, a National Honor Society member, a recipient of a
Regents scholarship, captain of the Mathletes team and president of the
Latin Club, where he has received five gold medals in the National Latin
Exam. He has been honored in advanced calculus on the county level and
has been an award winner in the school’s Physics Bowl, Quiz Bowl,
Robotics and Science Olympiad. Kyle received The President’s Volunteer
Service Award for his church altar service and for working in the
patient education department at Stony Brook University Hospital. He took
part in the Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook University as
a researcher in biomedical engineering using MATLAB and quantitative
ultrasound. He has been on the varsity tennis team for all four years of
high school along with other local athletic pursuits. His musical
accomplishments as a cellist and pianist have led him to the Young
Artist Program at Stony Brook University and as a participant in Levels
1-6 of the New York State School Music Association Festival. Kyle will
attend UCLA and major in mathematics.