Schools

Valedictorian, Salutatorian Named at Ellington High School

Andrew Cohen and Alexandra Larew are this year's top scholars.

Ellington High School’s Class of 2013 will hold its commencement ceremony on Friday, June 14 at 6 p.m. at the high school. Superintendent of Schools Stephen Cullinan will present the diplomas.  

The following class scholars represent the highest five percent of the Class of 2013: Andrew Cohen, Alexandra Larew, Margo Bailey, Julie Bezanson, Blaire Herter, Karli King, Gabriella Rubino, Ann Sawamura, Carolyn Schafer, and Ann Skorulski.

Andrew Cohen, son of Steve and Flo Cohen, is the class valedictorian. 

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He was recognized as a class scholar and has achieved high honors and scholar athlete recognition for all four years of his high school career. He received the Harvard Radcliffe Book Award and the Bausch and Lomb Science Award, and was a Connecticut Association of Schools Governors Scholar Candidate.  Andrew was the Connecticut Boy’s State delegate sponsored by the American Legion and a Rensselaer medalist. He was also a member of the award-winning 2011 Chemistry Olympiad group representing Ellington High School. Additionally, Andrew has been a member of Student Council.

Andrew has been a major contributor to the Ellington High School athletic program. He has participated on the boys indoor track and soccer teams, receiving All-Conference recognition for both. As a captain of the soccer team, he also received recognition as an All-State and All-New England soccer player. He is a recipient of the Dr. Valerio Moretti Scholar-Athlete Award, and was selected to the boys’ soccer NSCAA Scholar All-American Team in 2012. Andrew was recognized by the Connecticut Association of Schools as a Scholar-Athlete. He was actively involved with the Ellington Youth Basketball program and participated in Relay for Life.

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Andrew has been accepted into the honors program at UConn and will be studying biomedical engineering

Alexandra Larew, daughter of Bob and Kathy Larew, is the class salutatorian.  

Ali was recognized as a class scholar, is a member of the National Honor Society and has consistently been on the high honor roll. She has received awards for excellence in the following subjects: AP Calculus, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, and UConn English. Ali was also selected as Ellington High School’s Girls State representative, sponsored by the American Legion.

Ali is active in both athletics and academics. Athletically, she’s been recognized as a scholar-athlete every season of her career, and has received the 2012 Sportsmanship Award and the 2013 Outstanding Athlete Award. As captain of the softball team, she received Coaches’ Award, All-Conference and Scholar-Athlete Award. In volleyball, she was captain and recipient of Coaches’ Award and MVP Award. She was recognized by the Connecticut Association of Schools as a Scholar-Athlete, and was a member of the Journal Inquirer All-Academic Team.

As a senior, Ali was a member of the school golf team and received Coaches’ Award and All-State distinction. She was an executive board member of Rise Above, a student leadership group, as well as a member of the Knight Writers Literary Magazine club.

Ali’s community involvement included coaching girls recreation basketball, being a student representative on the Council for Developing a Positive Youth Culture (DPYC), serving as a mentor for at-risk students in the middle school, and participating in the Connecticut Youth Forum activities.

She plans on attending Villanova University and will be majoring in Communication.


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